Check out this KFC spot from Australia.
It was supposed to be a local spot playing off of the cricket rivalry between the West Indies and Australia.
But it’s gotten a lot of flack from viewer’s in the US who got wind of it over the Internet.
A white spectator finds himself in an all black crowd and smooths over what he calls an “awkward situation” with a bucket of fried chicken.
KFC has apologized and pulled the spot. But insists that the “awkward situation” is all about sitting in the rival team’s cheering section.
Not any racial reference.
KFC is a sponsor of cricket, so the product appearing in the stands is supposed to be a natural fit.
Also any potential negative stereotyping with African Americans and fried chicken apparently does not exist in Australia.
Nevertheless, with the globality of the internet and You Tube, can brands really count on ads staying local?
Probably not, as this example shows.
Whether or not KFC meant any harm, it is perhaps an important lesson to us all to think through potential global consequences of even “local ads”.
That’s my point of view. What’s your twist?
Is KFC at fault here?
I think in this age of trying to be “politically correct”, we have lost our sense of humor in the process.
Whoa…. I’d think anyone who has seen the racist media in the USA from the 1950s back to colonial times would see red flags with this ad.
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