KFC in Australia Accused of Racism: Ryan John

This ones a no brainer if you ask me. The commercial was made to promote a big cricket match between the Australian team and an all black West-Indies team.  The majority of Americans can’t name one rule in cricket and it was never meant to be seen by our eyes in the first place, so we obviously shouldn’t have any say over how “offensive” it is period.  But lets’ imagine here for a second that the KFC ad was placed on American TV and depicted a white man trying to silence a bunch of black people at a rap concert with a bucket of KFC. I know people would be enraged right? But what is wrong with a stereotype about some good old fashioned soul food like fried chicken?  Nothing! It only became a negative stereotype by the people who constantly walk around on politically correct egg shells wanting to be offended and thinking any racial innuendo is reason to be.  Imagine that! People want to be offended.  Yes they are everywhere and we all know them.  They masquerade their hate and anger with altruism. People who constantly complain about the boss not doing a good enough job.  The drivers who subconsciously want people to make dumb moves on the road so they can flash them a dirty look as they cruise by. There are a lot of people who are only happy when there is something to be unhappy about so they can use that something to justify their own unhappiness.  The more allowance we give that something in this country, the more and more people will find offensive.

The Australians make fun of themselves all the time in their Foster beer ads anyway. I get angry when I think about the kind of person who would get mad at this ad. First of all, it goes without saying that KFC was not ignorant enough to base the commercial off of the stereotype that the offended people are thinking about.  Although I’m guessing that black and white people represent roughly an equal portion of KFC’s market, they would never be that foolish as to place that ad on American television knowing how ultra politically correct we are.  Even though I do feel a little sorry for the KFC marketing people who developed this ad, I really believe that this much publicity for KFC is welcomed. It’s an easy debate to win for the company, but it certainly got the people who didn’t do their homework talking.

Fried chicken is good food and if people associated me with liking it, I wouldn’t see anything wrong with that. An innocent stereotype or “association” (which is the less offensive synonym people never use), like fried chicken shouldn’t make peoples blood boil. We build better relationships with people when we’re laid back, jovial and accepting as opposed to uptight, tense and censored.  I’d much rather have a conversation with a bartender vs. an injury lawyer.  Those who find something wrong with this ad are the true racist in search of anyway to publicly counter the guilt they feel for how they secretly view black people.