An Australian KFC commercial has caused outrage online for supposedly being racist and stereotyping black people. Except it isn’t racist, just ill-judged, especially with sensitivity levels about this kind of being through the roof these days.
The commercial shows an Australian cricket fan sitting slap-bang in the middle of the opposing fans stand. He is surrounded by fans of the West Indies cricket team – but it could equally have been English or Sri Lankan fans.
To appease the opposing fans he whips out a bucket of fried KFC chicken and shares it around.
This has lead to accusations of racism as though KFC is claiming all black people love fried chicken. But it doesn’t really. Instead it just shows how KFC can be a crowd-pleaser, no matter what race the crowd happens to be.
I can see why this ad has been pulled: it’s certainly open to misinterpretation. But I don’t believe for a second that it’s intentionally racist. And anyone who thinks so is surely being oversensitive.
