A few months ago it was the Jackson Jive skit that appeared on Australian TV show Hey Hey It’s Saturday (I started a thread about that one at the time, too).
Now, a KFC cricket commercial airing in Australia is being labelled racist because if it aired in America, it would probably be perceived as racist, and that’s, according to some, apparently good enough to definitively label something as racist.
This issue is being discussed in a few different places right now, and the train wreck “analysis” given by The Young Turks in the video I’ve linked to provides an unintentional good summary of the types of “arguments” being made. Firstly, the black people in the video are not African American, they are West Indian. Secondly, the reason they are jumping out of their seat and making noise is because they are cheering on their cricket team, not because that’s just what black people do.
It’s obvious what the issue is here: The white guy starts handing around some fried chicken, which in the USA, does have some racial connotations.
But not here. Here, this ad would be just as harmless if the white guy was handing around some pizza, or was instead surrounded by white supporters of the New Zealand cricket team.
Well in subsequent ads Mick proves to be quite the lad. He steals the scalpers tickets. He invades the field and placates security with KFC. He steals the batteries out of the remote at his girlfriend’s place. He’s just a bad boy.
For one they are taking this individual ad out of context of the ad campaign it is a part of. Which is KFC attempting to link itself with Cricket (I think it’s the offical food of Australian Cricket or something stupid like that). There have been other ads in the campaign where he uses the chicken to distract people (his in-laws, a security guard) to let him enjoy the cricket.
This is just the next iteration in that series.
Besides all that, the West Indies crowd have a long long history of being a very loud, very passionate supporters of Cricket. The ad is obviously intended for Cricket followers who would be well aware of that.
Ridiculous overreaction. They’re the ones who are apparently entirely too sensitive about the ‘Fried Chicken’ sterotype. Does that mean KFC in American never ever has a black person in their ad’s because of the potential for sterotyping?
UK ads for KFC have described it as “Soul Food”. They’d never get away with it in the US but the UK doesn’t have the same context, hence: not racist (plus the people eating it were a mixed group).
I don’t get the ad. What is the “awkward situation”? Could it be a lone white guy surround by persons of color, who then makes friends by supplying fried chicken? Even if you dismiss the US-centric racial connotations of fried chicken, why would a white guy feel “awkward” in a group of persons of color if there wasn’t some level of racial content? I don’t know if it rises to the level of “racism” but it definitely plays off of racial stereotypes (white fear of dark skinned people).
I’d say definitely not racist - and certainly not in the way the J5 skit was. I can see how an American, totally ignorant of both cricket fandom and the lack of associations with certain food types, might miss that, but that’s no excuse.
I would, though, if I were working for KFC’s ad agency, have insisted we go with a different team’s supporters (South Africa is nicely mixed, or the English BArmy Army if you want silly), but that’s out of sensitivity to how having a white man in a sea of black faces *could *look to some in this day and age, not inherent racism. You always have to consider that there’s no such thing as just a local TV audience anymore. It’s all global, especially ads, which seem to have a strong following for the more out-there ones on tube sites.
The problem here is that the presenters are totally US-centric. Things can only be seen by them from an American POV. I don’t live in a cricketing nation but am familiar with the fans and the spectacle that can be international games.
If these people were more familiar with the dynamics of international games they might have some insight into what they are actually watching which is a Aussie fan stuck on his own in a sea of W.Indies supporters who feels he’s in “an awkward situation” and eases it by sharing out some KFC.
I’m not familiar with the rest of the series of Ads but it’s blatantly obvious what’s going on in that Ad and it’s not in any way racist.
By “awkward” BTW I mean that he’s surrounded by a group of boisterous opposition supporters and he feels out of place and disconnected with everyone around him. By sharing he becomes part of the group.
The woman next to him is wearing a white shirt trimmed with the same yellow and green team colors he is wearing. The guy in back of him is also wearing green, and the guy in front of him is wearing a green and yellow hat. Hard to tell who is rooting for whom.
All I am saying is it is reaching to conclude that he is rooting for one team, and everyone else is rooting for the other. Certainly not as apparent as the fact that he is the only white person in frame.
Come on, reaching? No it isn’t. It’s readily apparent to anybody familiar with the game who is supporting who. A white tee-shirt with yellow trim isn’t an Australian cricket shirt. The yellow trim is there because yellow is a common colour on flags in the West Indies (c.f. the Jamaica or Barbados flags).
Perhaps it isn’t apparent to a citizen in New Hampshire, and that’s exactly why the advert wasn’t aired there, but in Australia where the cultural context is present.
What? He is the only person (maybe two but I’m not familar with all the strips for WI and Aussie, most teams have more than one strip BTW)
How is it reaching that he’s on his own. Look at the ad, he’s on his own, everyone else is partying and he’s not. He’s rubbing his face in frustration and sighing.
It’s not me or anyone else who’s reaching it’s you from what I can see.
What exactly is your problem with the ad from a perspective of Australian broadcast?
Maybe he has a hangover. Maybe he has to take a leak. All I know is he is not the only one wearing yellow and green team colors, so it is not obvious who is rooting for whom.