Smoky Mountains Sunrise

Friday, January 8, 2010

KFC Feels Global Heat Over Australian Ad


Black folks love chicken. There, I said it. This stereotype, like all stereotypes, has a good dose of truth in it. In fact, I'd go so far as to make another generalization and say we don't care if its fried, baked, roasted, grilled, barbecued, fricasseed, jerked, pulled, or even boiled. We just love us some soul bird.

What we don't like is the lingering racist connotations that are associated with eating poultry (don't even get me started on swine), which is probably the real reason some black folks are upset by a controversial KFC ad that has some claiming the company is perpetuating racist stereotypes.

The KFC ad depicts a frustrated, white Australian cricket fan sitting among a crowd of black people who are happily dancing to the beat of steel drums while rooting for their team, which is apparently from a Caribbean nation. How does he get them to see things his way? He offers them a bucket of chicken and they quickly change their tune. As they grab pieces of chicken from the bucket, he looks at the camera and says, "Too easy."




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