Posted on 08/28/2023 2:55:06 AM PDT by grundle
A new KFC campaign being run in Canada has sparked a flurry of criticism on Twitter after photos of billboards were deemed racially insensitive. The global restaurant chain has long used its slogan, “It’s finger lickin’ good,” and in the new advertisement, the company utilizes a witty attempt at proving it.
Azim Akhtar, the director of marketing for KFC Canada, excitedly shared images that depicted the reflections of two Black men and a woman of color in silverware as they ate chicken and licked their fingers. “Sorry, utensils. It’s finger lickin’ good. Latest campaign, I couldn’t be more proud!” he tweeted on Aug. 24.
The marketing effort was applauded by many for creatively playing off the slogan, which dates back to the 1950s. But Black people in particular expressed disappointment, criticizing KFC for approving a marketing plan that perpetuated racist stereotypes.
“This is why it’s important for marketers/advertisers to study art history and historic ad campaigns. The print ad vs. the video came across as a caricature display of Black people. A picture is worth a thousand words. Nah, this was a miss,” wrote one person. Another individual said the fast-chicken supplier was “bringing minstrel tropes and fried chicken back in style.”
Akhtar took notice of the scrutiny and attempted to extinguish any hard feelings by sharing the full video advertisement. In it, a cast of white, Black, Asian, old, and young people of various walks of life are shown eating fried chicken as silverware goes unused and plastic cutlery is thrown by the wayside — reiterating that the food is “finger lickin’ good.”
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
I think the only path ahead...for future commercials, is to have only robots do the ‘finger-licking-good’ routine.
I don’t see anything wrong with it. They’ve been using that line seems like forever. The ‘mix’ of races in the commercials was an attempt to placate racial complainers but with them, there’s no satisfying them. They just want everything to be about race, race, race.
They might want to hold off on the new watermelon fries.
My biggest concern right now is whether the KFC ad is racially insensitive.
Two Black men and a woman of color? SMDH
Give me a break. Blacks and other minorities are all we see in ads today. It’s if white people no longer exist. Of course those in the media, politics and advertising wish that were true.
“I think the only path ahead...for future commercials, is to have only robots do the ‘finger-licking-good’ routine.”
Great idea. Replace black folk who now proliferate in commercials with robots and take the “racially insensitive” narrative constructs away from the race hustlers with an agenda.
Gee, you’d think the lesbian community would be most upset. 🤷
Blacks upset by a commercial of Blacks eating fried chicken.
But no outrage at commercials featuring Blacks in HIV medication ads.
Perhaps all parties would be appeased with a redo of the ad campaign featuring Justin Trudeau in Blackface, licking his fingers?
One solution to prevent something like this from every happening again would be to not use black actors in advertisements of any sort, ever.
I'm disgusted with myself for wasting MY brain cells and time even commenting.
Bingo.
Only a racist would think that ad is racist.
I don’t see anything wrong with it either. What IS wrong is 90% of commercials are black.
i
It’s not just that. A greater share of Asian, Hispanic and black ethnic groups frequent KFC than do whites.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/670821/visitors-to-kfc-in-the-last-six-months-us-by-ethnicity/
T
hey would have to be black robots because only blacks are allowed to do commercials.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.