Saturday, January 9, 2010

KFC Pulls Australian TV Ad Amid Cries of Racism

Puhleeeze!! The PC police are always on the scene.

KFC has been forced to yank one of its commercials from Australian television after it sparked cries of racism for showing a lone white man handing out fried chicken to dancing black people.

The sketch is about cricket, a sport popular in both Australia and the West Indies, where the characters in the ad are meant to be from. It depicts a white Australian cricket fan in the opposing team's stands, surrounded by excited dark-skinned West Indies supporters.

"Need a tip when you're stuck in an awkward situation?" he says. Then it shows the man sharing a bucket of fried chicken with the crowd.



It was designed for the Australian market but got attention in America after someone posted it on YouTube.

BET, the African-American TV network, gave its take on the ad and asked readers to comment on its Web site:

"Are you a lone white man, who's sweating bullets because you're surrounded by a horde of black folks who are dancing and playing jungle rhythms? Worry not ... Kentucky Fried Chicken has the solution: Pass around a bucket of chicken.

"Does the content of this KFC ad, which is now playing on Australian TV, sound racist?"

It did to enough people that KFC was forced to discontinue the commercial Thursday.

READ MORE HERE

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