Thursday, 7 January 2010

"Racist" KFC ad blasted and pulled by idiots who don't know what theyre talking about, as usual.

quote [ Kentucky Fried Chicken's head office in the US has apologised for "any misinterpretation" caused by a controversial Australian cricket ad as furious debate raged in the American media about whether it was racist. ]

link to Ad and stupid "Young Turks" embarassing themselves about something they know NOTHING about, in extended. UPDATE: Young Turks respond. Link in extended.

WTF? These people have NO idea what they're on about. Yet ANOTHER time a bunch of idiot americans push their cultural values onto ours and find parts of our culture offensive. Arrogant cretins, whats next? Holding a sporting series with only ONE country and calling it a World Series? Oh wait, YOU DO!
Oh btw, take some time to read the comments. I believe the ratio of people calling bullshit to people calling racist, is about 1000:1.
I know the Young Turks don't speak for everybody, but its a LOT more than just them, and its also a great example of the typical "our culture and stereotypes apply EVERYWHERE" that I fear is becoming quite the rule for Americans. Thank FUCK for the exceptions.
Youtube video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaIhf41ctkM&feature=topvideos

UPDATE: The comment to that original video went from 3,400 to nearly 9,000 in one day. I havent seen much that defends or agrees with them.
Response video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_StDMpVhDk&feature=channel

My problem, which I forgot to include/elaborate on past the title, is that I can't believe its been pulled. And who cares if Americans find it racist. Its not MADE for them. Its a cricket ad, you know, that game you americans DONT play? I'm angry that so many americans (whose opinions I've heard) have this arrogant attitude and belief that their cultural beliefs, values and especially racial stereotypes are the same all over the world. Its infuriating that they point the racist card at us when they themselves....christ, I dont really have to list any examples do I? My point is, just because in THEIR context its racist, doesn't mean its racist for anyone else, and noone else should have to go without, just because poor oversensitive america saw this ad not intended for them, a concept totally infathomable to them I might add, and gets its bitchtits in a twist. What the fuck man? Seriously?
[politics] [by Ultra Megatron@10:01amGMT] [+3 Funny]

Comments

plexer said @ 10:09am GMT on 7th Jan [Score:1 Insightful]
Dear US:

Fail.
swiggy said @ 10:12am GMT on 7th Jan [Score:2]
DarkShadowRavenDragonGrrl69 said @ 10:34am GMT on 7th Jan [Score:2 Funny]
DarkShadowRavenDragonGrrl69 said @ 10:33am GMT on 7th Jan
Knowing nothing about cricket, Australia or the Blacks I see a white guy stuck in the middle of a group of Blacks. He then proceeds to bribe them with chicken so they don't kill him. Is that about right? Or did I miss something?
utah said @ 11:46am GMT on 7th Jan [Score:2 Insightful]
That's about it. If you're in the rest of the world, offering a stranger food is a good thing - it's usually considered generous, and polite.

If you're in the US, you'll see the West Indians as African Americans, see all of the fried chicken-lovin' stereotypes that people in the US came up with over the years, and wrap it up into something racist. You won't object to the side dishes, though - just the chicken. And if the Aussie offered them beer, or pizza, that'd be cool. It's just if you're from the US, black people combined with chicken has a special meaning. Kind of like how the colour red, or the number eight, have special meaning to the Chinese - it's an unusual piece of culture, not necessarily shared by the rest of the world.

Has anyone seen any objections by West Indians? A protest from the government, or from their ambassador in Australia? Or is it just the US assuming everyone else has the same culture and history as them, again?
utah said @ 2:00pm GMT on 7th Jan
...and somehow I missed your comment about "He then proceeds to bribe them with chicken so they don't kill him". No, the happy, smiling, dancing black people - who are pretty much ignoring the white guy - aren't going to kill him, despite having substantially more melanin in their skin.
notworking said @ 1:30am GMT on 8th Jan
He must have given them watermelon earlier in the match.
b said @ 2:47pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:1 Insightful]
that's one ignorant, overly sensitive, USA-centric way to look at it. on the other hand, there's team yellow fan all by himself in a sea of team red fans and busts out the kfc to make friends.

and americans are only squawking because team yellow guy is white. what if he had been west indies too? racist? what it was a chinese cricket fan offering up fried chicken to the brown folks?

nope, it only matters when the white guy does it.
lost said @ 5:38pm GMT on 7th Jan
well,..yeah. of course.
However, if you put a Chinese guy up there it would still be seen a racist.
EPT said @ 3:46pm GMT on 7th Jan
As the others have said, the ad is 'single guy makes friends', not 'whitey quells the jungle-bunnies'.
dook_sucks said @ 6:08am GMT on 8th Jan
you're joking right? They're being too loud, so he gives them food to shut them up.
Tungston said @ 10:34am GMT on 7th Jan
Unfortunately, all of your comments are fairly accurate.

Anyone willing to give us an idea as to the actual concept behind the add?


- Yank
Ultra Megatron said @ 10:41am GMT on 7th Jan
Heh, I just posted a bit of a explanation. I completly forgot to in the extended. Sorry about that :D

- Aussie
herra turpa said @ 10:36am GMT on 7th Jan



here you go
cool_drool said @ 11:30am GMT on 7th Jan
WTF???? What in the hell is chicken pulp used for?
incpenners said @ 11:34am GMT on 7th Jan [Score:1 Underrated]
Fiction.
herra turpa said @ 12:46pm GMT on 7th Jan
what do you mean fiction?

that machines main purpose is to "snuff out" egg chikens to make food for fur animals among other things.

video for tube is taken from the site of that machines manufactor




Oy Petsmo Products Ab









kang said @ 1:23pm GMT on 7th Jan
He meant pulp as in Pulp Fiction (the movie) or pulp fiction (not the movie).
azazel said @ 2:23pm GMT on 7th Jan
Pulp. Fiction.
azazel said @ 2:25pm GMT on 7th Jan
And that's what I get for not refreshing before commenting.
blackpsypher said @ 11:37am GMT on 7th Jan
well....the next time you get some chicken nugget, or you purchase a food item that contains "mechanically separated meat" as one of it's ingredients, you'll know where it comes from.
blackpsypher said @ 11:35am GMT on 7th Jan
mmmm..... liquid chicken....
Ultra Megatron said @ 10:40am GMT on 7th Jan [Score:4 Informative]
Yeah I forgot to explain it.
Okay, its the West Indies, west indians, not african americans. Also, not having seen or understanding the "culture" of cricket itself, it can be a bit strange.
Basically, the poor aussie fella has got himself a ticket in the opposing sides stand, and he's either unhappy about his team getting trounced, or is trying to hear the game. He offers them some KFC to make the situation less awkward and to make friends basically.
The thing is, we aussie love the west indies. We love what we sometimes call "Calypso Cricket" which is referring to some aspects of how the West Indies cricket culture is different from ours. We yell, drink grog, act like wankers, they cheer and play steel drums. And we love it.
In fact, What makes me as a Australian angry, is that people would suggest we don't love playing cricket with the West Indies, or them themselves in general.
Let me put it this way, no one wants to be accidently in the middle of the wrong teams stand. Its not a race issue. If it had of been two sets of white fans, or even if it was a West Indie fan in the Aussie stand, the joke would have worked exactly the same. Indeed, its the fucking English fans, The Barmy Army, you have to worry about.
THEY'RE The ones that would kill you.
Always those fucking poms.
Bastards.
Aidentas said @ 10:45am GMT on 7th Jan
West Indies Cricket fans are oft considered the nicest cricket fans in the world.
Viking_Biochemist said @ 11:16am GMT on 7th Jan
+1 informative as I had no idea what was going on.

some Americans accusing Australians of being racist because it perpetuates a stereotype that African Americans eat a lot of fried chicken.

What, all black people are African-Americans?

I hate KFC ads and all, but really, come on.
EPT said @ 3:57pm GMT on 7th Jan
I remember seeing a French calendar with two black models that someone described as 'African American'. One model was Puerto Rican, the other was British...
earthswine said @ 4:32pm GMT on 7th Jan
I agree that the "African-American" label is grating, but one person explained to me that the "American" part was once meant to refer to the American continent(s), not the United States of America. This actually kind of makes sense, in that Africa is a continent itself, though it could be bullshit. Of course, you are still right in that not all black people are African-Americans. When I was in Australia, Aborigianies were considered blacks, and when I was in the UK, South-Asians (as well as Africans, West-Indians, etc) were considered black. It is a colorful world that we live in.

Oh, and as an American, I have to say that I am shocked at how worked up people get about Cricket, KFC, and American cultural imperialism. Just switch on some baseball, keep eating our disgusting chicken, and bend to our will.
FifthSpango said @ 11:35am GMT on 7th Jan
Someone's still pissy from the Ashes.
pleaides said @ 12:12pm GMT on 7th Jan
Laugh it up.

Enjoy it while you can.
EPT said @ 3:58pm GMT on 7th Jan
I don't like the Australian team much. I'm happy when anyone beats them.



Except England.
Supreme_Coconut said @ 3:52pm GMT on 7th Jan
So it's like if a Cowboys fan was stuck in with some Redskins fans and he offered them beer to ease the tension. Got it. Not racist.
Ultra Megatron said @ 4:00pm GMT on 7th Jan
Fucking nailed it man. Well done.
lost said @ 6:11pm GMT on 7th Jan
I cant tell which one of you is being sarcastic.
writerguy_iu said @ 6:57pm GMT on 7th Jan
Actually, I think social etiquette calls for smallpox-infected blankets in such a situation.
RhesusMonkey said @ 1:25am GMT on 15th Jan
well, if it was an outdoor game and it snowed...
KropperPrime said @ 11:11am GMT on 7th Jan
But they DO eat a lot of fried chicken...
monday said @ 11:12am GMT on 7th Jan
Validate our racism! Or we'll invade you.
Viking_Biochemist said @ 11:23am GMT on 7th Jan
Meanwhile, what's with all the riled-up Australians on here this week?
FifthSpango said @ 11:34am GMT on 7th Jan
That one is relatively explicable.

After losing the Ashes. That's the ashes, lost, to England, again. Australia was rather waiting for South Africa to wipe the smug off of our face. Fortunately this happened, and no it looks like England will hold the second test for a notable series advantage.

Long story short; England Cricket > Australian Cricket. And they do not like it up 'em.
Ultra Megatron said @ 11:37am GMT on 7th Jan
I don't even follow or watch cricket, but all the same, Fuck you.
Just Fuck You. We can drink enough alcohol to KILL one of you room temperature drink swilling whinging poms, and STILL play cricket, AND have the hand to eye coordination to SMS inappropriate texts to women we're not married to :D Beat THAT!
Stratafyre said @ 11:40am GMT on 7th Jan
I don't know what any of that means, but I can still drink more than you.
Ultra Megatron said @ 11:53am GMT on 7th Jan
Before I open my mouth and possibly look stupi....stupider than normal, what country are you from? If you're an American, you can take a film reel of that BeerFest BULLSHIT and shove it right up your ass.
If you're not Irish or Scottish, you can fuck off :D
Ultra Megatron said @ 11:54am GMT on 7th Jan
Oh really? What country are you from? If you're American, you can take that Beerfest movie and shove it up your ass. If you're not Irish, Scottish, or German, you can fuck off. :D
Ultra Megatron said @ 11:55am GMT on 7th Jan
Didnt mean to post twice, didn't seem to have posted the first one.
But at least if you're German, I've saved myself with the second one's update :D
DarkShadowRavenDragonGrrl69 said @ 12:00pm GMT on 7th Jan
I almost blacked out on New Year's from all the booze I drank. And yet I don't get why some guys have to compare dick sizes by way of how destroyed their liver is.
Silent said @ 12:09pm GMT on 7th Jan
The first rule of Compare-dick-size-by-means-of-how-damaged-your-internal-organs-are club is that you do not explain Compare-dick-size-by-means-of-how-damaged-your-internal-organs-are club.
Ultra Megatron said @ 12:29pm GMT on 7th Jan
Heh, nah I'm just comparing stereotypes. I invoke them for (and only for) humour. I don't even really drink that much myself. I have different tastes in vices.
Naruki said @ 1:45pm GMT on 7th Jan
<Sarcasm>Yeah, I just love when an unoppressed majority laughs at stereotypes and how harmless they are. So very true.</Sarcasm>
utah said @ 2:04pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:-1]
If I had a little more time, I'd dig up your contribution to that "racist joke thread" from last year.

(If anyone's looking, it was a post that got heavily downmodded, and people started posting racist jokes, for reasons that escape me).
Naruki said @ 2:22pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:-1]
If I had a little more time, I'd dig up your contribution to the Skinheads for Killing Obama Campaign. Gee, too bad I don't that kind of time, only enough time to make nasty accusations. :-)


But yes, in the proper context I will make bad jokes. I will not, however, pretend that such jokes are "perfectly harmless".

For instance, I would not joke about an evil person's death in front of his family (with the possible exception of whenever Fred Phelps kicks his stinking bucket). But I will sometimes do so in a place where that is in context and where they are unlikely to see it.


When the context makes it clear that I am partaking in bad jokes without pretending they are innocent, I may join in. But pretending they are inherently harmless while still laughing because of the very harm they do is just a bit fucked in the head. You'll want to point that little high horse of yours at the Ultra Aussie.
FifthSpango said @ 2:37pm GMT on 7th Jan
"But pretending they are inherently harmless while still laughing because of the very harm they do is just a bit fucked in the head. You'll want to point that little high horse of yours at the Ultra Aussie."

Here... this... what the hell are you talking about?
Naruki said @ 2:54pm GMT on 7th Jan
Check my response to you above. Plus, I was feeling a bit down...modded. :-p

Specifically, though, what makes a "racist joke" funny is the harm it does. Arguably all funny jokes are funny because someone is harmed or insulted or humiliated. But to turn around and deny that any harm could be done (we laugh at them, we don't take them seriously) makes no sense. Obviously he knows the harm done by them or he wouldn't think they were funny.

Anyway, going to be now. Have a good one!
symmetrian said @ 4:30pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:2 Funny]
I like that you plan your own existence.
Naruki said @ 11:34pm GMT on 7th Jan
I'm guessing you have something in mind, but it's not coming across.
Naruki said @ 7:10am GMT on 8th Jan
I suppose it would have helped if I'd re-read my own comment instead of simply poring over yours repeatedly. Gah! I now get it.
Ultra Megatron said @ 6:29pm GMT on 7th Jan
Or maybe I've been through enough experiences in life to realise that something as stupid as concepts and stereotypes aren't important enough to be hurt by. If you're going to be hurt by something as intangible as a stereotype, well then shit, how the hell are you going to handle the rest of life, my friends?
You know what, the other problem is, is thats its VERY hard to offend me, if you want to offend me, dig up a dead relative or person I respected and literally urinate on their remains. Short of that, and one particular word, that really isnt anything anyone can say to upset or offend me, the exceptions of course being personal things said from family members, but thats the same as most I believe.
Fucking sun up, so going to bed myself.

Plus, maybe I'm laughing at the fact that people bother to be offended and upset, but cant give a fuck for genuinly big important things and matters.
lost said @ 8:26pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:2]
I have only ever heard white people make that argument.

In America, stereotypes of minorities are a huge fucking problem. These stereotypes breed comics, movies, toys, websites, and on. Imagine being bombarded by images of your inferiority every fucking day for hundreds of years. Imagine people not helping you in stores every fucking day. Imagine people assuming you are an inferior idiot every fucking day. Imagine poeple crossing the street to avoid you or clutching their purse every fucking day. Imagine being followed around by security every fucking day. You can STILL go into stores and soo old white women selling fucking mammy dolls today. Ambercrombie and Fitch seem to love making racist shirts still. Every damn day there are hundreds of stereotype driven racism pushed into the public in america as well as abroad.

How long till you just go, "Dude, for real, stop it or I am going to kick your ass."

I am glad you dont get offended by whatever white australian stereotypes you get per day. Don't trivialize other people if they do.
Ultra Megatron said @ 5:39am GMT on 8th Jan
I'm not trivialising them, I'm belittling them for being pathetic enough to worry about it. Be more thick skinned. And I'm going to skip the very obvious and racist joke there.

You want to talk about minorities facing their inferiority? A real black (or green, or purple, or yellow) person would say "Fuck that, I'm who I am and thats good enough."

Could someone then explain to me why people like say, The Wayans Brothers, capitalise on this "dumb negro" image(that I STRONGLY disagreed) and make it their humour. Look at half their shows, what was the sitcom? You can't seriously tell me that minorities don't either make shows, or act in shows, that portray their cultutral differences as humourous and lesser in value to whites.
I am NOT saying I agree with it. In fact, I've had screaming matches with people saying that black people shouldn't portray themselves as idiots to white people just to make a buck. I think thats wrong. I think putting money over the perceivement of your race is wrong.
So I'm not a fucking capitalist. Oh no, I think there are things out there more important than money.
Must be defective, or at least obselete, in this day and age.
But if you guys arent going to do anything to FIX your mistakes with these racial stereotypes, then do NOT get up me about anything. You guys cant be FUCKED. Its not IMPORTANT.
I draw your attention to New Orleans a YEAR after the floods.
If it was a white community, that would have gone SO MUCH differently.
It would have been important enough to fix.

Oh, and about not getting worried about Australian/white stereotypes, I'm not fucking allowed to. The second I whinge about "throw another shrimp(its a FUCKING PRAWN!!!!), or "True blue" or "Fair Dinkum", then I'm concerning myself with things that arent important. And its been said here many times, even once or twice in this very thread, that racism against whites just doesnt exist, or isnt important.
Also, the aussie stereotype is that Aussies are bastards who drink grog like no tomorrow and shouldn't be fucked with.
So youre saying we're aggressive violent animals who drink alcohol all day?
Hang on, If I said that about a African American, or a Australian Aborigine, I bet you'd be fucking lynching me. And I doubt I'd blame you.
But its okay to label white people like that.
And you know what? We, as a race, have EMBRACED it and make jokes about it!
Superior race? Fuck NO. No such thing. Although the Scots have lots of pale skinned redheaded women...... *Ahem*, where was I?
No, not a superior race, but able to laugh at itself more and not try and turn every opportunity into holding the hand out (for money) to make up for grievances of some sort or the other? Apparently So.
arctan said @ 2:01am GMT on 10th Jan
You want to talk about minorities facing their inferiority? A real black (or green, or purple, or yellow) person would say "Fuck that, I'm who I am and thats good enough."

As a member of a racial minority, seriously, shut the fuck up.

The most annoying thing about conversations like this is how some people don't even realize that people they're talking to may not actually be white and may in fact be real-live genuine melanin-having people who really honestly are offended on their own behalf, not out of "white guilt" or whatever the fuck.

Could someone then explain to me why people like say, The Wayans Brothers, capitalise on this "dumb negro" image(that I STRONGLY disagreed) and make it their humour

The Wayans Brothers are not the Kings of Black America and do not speak for black people, and black people are not responsible for their decisions.

I can't speak for whether the Wayans are, specifically, an example -- I've heard Shawn Wayans try to explain why he does what he does before and he seems to actually believe that he's putting a "positive" spin on black buffoon stereotypes, whether or not he actually is -- but there are plenty of people who cynically decide to make a profit off of negative stereotypes of their kind. We all have to eat at the end of the day.

If I were hungry enough and you offered me a big enough check I'm not sure I can say *I* wouldn't take part in something I found revoltingly insulting toward me and people like me, especially if it seemed like the depressing truth that those stereotypes were universal and never going to go away and my only choice was whether I could cash in on it or not.

But, for what it's worth, there are tons, and tons, AND TONS of black people in America who are not fans of the Wayans Brothers. There are tons of black people in America who resent and dislike the "gangsta" stereotype, or are at least made uncomfortable by it. It is far more complicated than just "Hey, these black celebrities have embraced the stereotype to one degree or another in order to make money, THEREFORE IT ISN'T A PROBLEM".

As an Asian who considers stuff like kung fu movies a guilty pleasure, yes, it is still a problem. Stereotypes are something we all have to deal with. It probably isn't possible to live your whole life rejecting them all absolutely 100% or you'd have to cut yourself out from your culture, but that is NOT the same as them not being a problem or just something to laugh off. And it does mean that I do see a difference between liking a cheesy intentionally chop-socky kung fu movie where Asians are taking a stereotype and knowingly playing with it and having fun with it, and some white dude randomly coming up to me in the street talking in a thick fake Asian accent to make fun of me.

So youre saying we're aggressive violent animals who drink alcohol all day?
Hang on, If I said that about a African American, or a Australian Aborigine, I bet you'd be fucking lynching me. And I doubt I'd blame you.
But its okay to label white people like that.
And you know what? We, as a race, have EMBRACED it and make jokes about it!

I don't think it's "okay", really, and, again, you speak for yourself far too quickly when you say you've "embraced" it. (I knew an Aussie girl in college who did not, in fact, embrace it and was very quick to irritation at Crocodile Dundee jokes.)

But then, there hasn't really been a sizable immigrant population of Australians with Australian accents who have lived a culturally distinct life from other Americans in this country for multiple generations and been shat upon for it, so it really isn't the same thing.

It *was* a situation that Jewish and Irish immigrants, among other groups, *did* live with for some time. The thing about this thing we call "race", of course, is that differences that are built into obvious physical distinctions are going to last longer and bite harder than things that can vanish through assimilation in one generation, like accents. But there definitely is more bite to stereotypes about Irish or Jewish people in this country than Australian stereotypes, even though these groups are both now considered "white" and have to a great degree reclaimed a lot of the negative stereotypes about them -- it is still not the sort of thing that a non-Irish or non-Jewish person can feel totally free to throw jokes around about with impunity.

No, not a superior race, but able to laugh at itself more and not try and turn every opportunity into holding the hand out (for money) to make up for grievances of some sort or the other? Apparently So.

Hoo boy. If you really want to talk about whether white Australians have the same kind of "grievance" with, say, the English that black Americans have with white Americans...
Ultra Megatron said @ 6:06am GMT on 8th Jan
How long till you just go, "Dude, for real, stop it or I am going to kick your ass."

Dude, I'm fucking white and I get treated like that ALL the goddamn time. I'm ALWAYS followed around by the guards at shops. All the FUCKING time. And I'm as white as fuck, I pride myself on being as pale as possible, because its what I like. I'm 6'5, built, with hair that goes down my back.
Every single fucking thing you have said happens to me. Every DAY people cross the road because they make the assumption I've some monster.
Ever think it might be because black people are usually better built and considered more athletic?
As for the "mammy/Gollywog" dolls, so what? So the hell what? Its a reflection of American society. Not necesarily a good part, but a reflection none the less.
I feel like America is the only country that ties itself in knots to ignore/forget the sins they committed long ago, and whenever anyone else does anything that just happens to have a passing resemblance or makes them remember their assholery, then they kick up the biggest stink "Oh look at us redeeming ourselves for what we did"

...............You know what, I NEVER meant for this to be a race issue. This is my point, you bloody americans ALWAYS find some hidden meaning, or racism in EVERYTHING. Even these fucking discussions.
I ACTUALLY wanted to have a good fucking vent about how America is once again trying to force its opinion and choices onto other countries.

Seriously, was NOTHING learnt 9 years ago? Nothing? Oh, instead of supplying weapons to countries in wars that shouldnt concern you, you're just supplying/forcing your morals where they're not needed or wanted. And instead of even facing front for THAT, you're trying to twist it, saying "oh but it is racist". Only becuase your fucking ancestors went to another country, EN-FUCKING-SLAVED another race, and dragged them back to yours. You brought it on yourself, and ruined shitloads of humour for yourselves. We didn't, so don't shit on our humour.
How about I criticise your humour? How fucking funny was it you wouldnt help ANYONE in world war 2, until your own interests were threatened (ie : Pearl Harbour), but 9/11, you're on the phone expecting help from everyone like they just should. How about how you got US mixed up in YOUR bullshit in vietnam? Fucking hysterical.

But seriously, if we're going to be a global villiage, thats like a chain, and a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
Now, are we going to forge a chain highlighting all the cultural sensitivites, or are we going to make one that focuses on all our unique individual strengths?
If its the former, then thats a chain of paper.
This sort of shit didnt fly 25 years ago. Why the hell have/ How the hell have we gone backwards?

Isnt this our chance to purge all the crap and create a perfect super society? Why the FUCK would you want to drag in all your bullshit and emotional baggage and negative things? Why would you want to bring all that crap to the table? Isnt this the chance to delete all this crap, for once and for all to unite as humans, and not this stupid race crap?
This sort of shit didnt fly 25 years ago. Why the hell have/ How the hell have we gone backwards?
I say bring on a vicious outerspace invasion. Its the ONLY fucking way this dumb fucking retarded cretinous world is going to unite.
EPT said @ 11:35am GMT on 8th Jan [Score:1 Underrated]
Ultra, take a deep breath mate, take a deep breath.
scabble said @ 10:08pm GMT on 8th Jan [Score:1 Insightful]
I ACTUALLY wanted to have a good fucking vent about how America is once again trying to force its opinion and choices onto other countries.

Well, that's where this becomes a giant wad of bullshit. You have an ax to grind about Americans- that's obvious. But you chose to equate KFC with America. If it isn't painfully obvious yet, KFC chose to pull the ad, not "America."

If the point here was to throw a tantrum, you should have just done a "this is why America sucks" post and let the chips fall where they may.
Ultra Megatron said @ 5:21pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:-1]
Context is the key word here. I 10000000000% agree. Time and place for everything. Of course for me, time and place is anytime and place I THINK I can get away with it. Another key word is think, in that quite often I....misjudge my audience and get in a fair amount of trouble.

Tell you what though, if I ever came across a black man, I'd..well first I'd wipe it off and apologise...but seriously, if I ever found a black man, starving to death and all I had was some KFC, well then, I'm sorry, but after all this, I'd let him fucking starve to death. It seems it would be racist to offer/give him some. :D
Oh, and if I'm ever being dead serious and not just slightly taking a irreverant, very skewed view to it all, then I wont just say "you this" and "you that" to this invisible, non existant "you". I'll single people out by name, people know that.
Of COURSE stereotypes are harmful and damaging, but fuck, only if you let them to a large degree I feel.
I mean, is someone pointing a gun at each and everyones individual head telling them they have to be offended/react in a certain way to something?
I'll take it down another layer, I'm laughing at the inherent stupidity in humanity that enables stupid fucking things like stupid stereotypes to exist in the first place. I present a very mock, very malicious snarky attitude that the more intelligent people around me will realise is nothing more than a satrical parody of everything thats fucking stupid.
I cant change it. And I want to. More than most, I'd bet. I HATE the status quo, its fucking awful. Buts it not going to change. Too many people have far too much interest in the current way of things.
So I'm just going to sit back and fucking laugh and try to mock and poke holes in everythings that fucked.
Is that really so bad?
But as I said at the beginning, context is key. VERY key.
arctan said @ 2:02am GMT on 10th Jan [Score:-1]
Of COURSE stereotypes are harmful and damaging, but fuck, only if you let them to a large degree I feel.

When stereotypes get into a person's head they can be the unconscious reason someone denies you a job, or a loan, or misremembers you as being the person who mugged them on the street.

That's not really you "letting" stereotypes get to you. That's a stereotype doing real fucking damage because they affect OTHER PEOPLE'S JUDGMENT -- because that is what, by definition, a "prejudice" does, makes people judge things wrong.
Naruki said @ 2:25pm GMT on 7th Jan
Revenge mod, Fifth? Seems a bit weird from you, so I'm guessing it is something else. Doesn't make a lot of sense though.
FifthSpango said @ 2:35pm GMT on 7th Jan
Ummm... No. Not revenge.

Actually, on reading it back I think I may have miss-read *stereotypes and how harmless they are.* as *minorities*. And thus changed the whole tone of your comment. Which is a bit daft.

That said, I do think that you read a bit much into megatrons comment. I really don't think he suggests that stereotypes aren't destructive. But, either way, not worth a down mod. Sorry Naruki.
Naruki said @ 2:49pm GMT on 7th Jan
I think what set me off was this comment from him:
I think another problem is that in Australia, we laugh at stereotypes, we don't take them seriously. Why would you?

Almost got a kneejerk downmod from me, but I held back. Then seeing him repeat the idea finally made me point out the hypocrisy, but probably in the wrong thread for it to be clear.
Ultra Megatron said @ 5:04pm GMT on 7th Jan
I was referring to good natured stereotypes, like I have to have a go back at the whinging poofter pom, and as a aussie, even a non drinking one, I have to defend our drinking and indeed, present our livers as cast iron, indestructable objects.
Purely for a laugh.
More seriously, I laugh at stereotypes because I know they exist, and if I have to be stuck with them against my will, then I'm going to undermine them by ridiculing and invoking them for satirical purposes.
I do apologise. I come across FAR better in person, where I'm usually appearing like I'm doing stand up for a invisible audience. Fuck half the time I'll air drum my own "ba boom" after a bad joke, or oddly enough, a really good line.
Seriously, I and just about everyone else can't change the bad crap in the world. So why the fuck not just laugh at it?
Thank fuck for the few americans who enable their stereotype. Thank fuck for the (probably more) aussies that live up to our stereotype. What the fuck is wrong with getting a laugh out of a foreigners culture but knowing full well at the same time they're laughing at ours and both being good natured about it, and both gaining mutual enjoyment our of a stupid thing like a stereotype. Now obviously there can often be a very fine line between good natured and vicious, and I admit it can be hard to walk that line, but seriously, if you can't stand the heat, get the hell out of the kitchen. Change the fucking channel.
Just because you DONT want to watch something, that was culturally irrelelvant and indeed non applicable, means that we CANT watch it?
BULL SHIT. Total and utter. At the end of the day, to me its not about cricket, or race, or cultural relevance. Its about another country imposing its will on anothers.
Last time I checked, you didnt beat us in World War 2 and impose censorship and decency standards based on your own on us. So where the fuck do you get off telling us what to do?
FifthSpango said @ 12:10pm GMT on 7th Jan
12 degrees Celsius. Not room temperature. So you can actually taste it, unlike that piss you have to freeze so that it becomes drinkable.

But in answer to your point; There's only one Freddy Flintoff!
pleaides said @ 12:13pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:1 Informative]
And he's got a fucked leg, and he pales into insignificance alongside the greats.
FifthSpango said @ 1:50pm GMT on 7th Jan
Pales into... ?

Please boy, when it comes to getting pissed there are none greater.
EPT said @ 3:49pm GMT on 7th Jan
Look at it this way. Where you live it's FUCKING COLD. The idea of cooling yourself further is daft. Where we live it's FUCKING HOT. The idea of drinking anything lukewarm is daft. Both traditions are born of their environment. Trust me, we're about to hit a couple of 40º days where I am, and you'd prefer our beer over yours.
Misanthrope said @ 4:40pm GMT on 7th Jan
I can drink more than pretty much anyone I've met and I'm Indian.
Viking_Biochemist said @ 12:04pm GMT on 7th Jan
I was mainly referring to the whale thread, which was dominated by angry Aussies, but OK...
FifthSpango said @ 12:08pm GMT on 7th Jan
Aussies are notoriously bad spellers, and thus liable to become irate when observing the word "whales". It reminds them of all the Western European nations that they can't beat at cricket.
scabble said @ 12:18pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:5 Insightful]
It's called context. This ad, when seen in America, will appear to be filled with Americans. The exception is the lone white guy with the accent, who is intentionally portrayed to be an outsider.

Was the ad hateful and intentionally racist? Well, no. But change the context (I.E. show it in America) and it takes on a different subtext. In the same way you can't expect Americans to understand the context of being an Aussie at a cricket match in the West Indies, you can't expect Aussies to understand the subtleties and nuances of disparaging stereotypes that have been around in the US for hundreds of years. They are quite real, I assure you.

The problem arose when the ad was seen by Americans. KFC is an American company, after all. They can't be seen as a company that promotes disparaging stereotypes, and when people complain the company can't use the argument that "This stuff isn't offensive where we're showing it." So they pull the ad. It's business, and it was a smart move. This regards a stereotype (about the product the company sells) and a demographic (cliche or no, black Americans account for a lot of income for the Colonel.)

In other words, the content is offensive to some people. Period. So KFC pulled the ad. Next thing you know, people are falling over themselves to bash Americans, and Americans are sending it right back.

But you know what? This flap is about a KFC ad. And it's a shitty one, too. Aww, the big dumb Americans took a shitty commercial away from you. Get over yourselves- KFC will make another one.
Ultra Megatron said @ 12:25pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:-1 Flamebait]
I think another problem is that in Australia, we laugh at stereotypes, we don't take them seriously. Why would you?
My point is is that I'm sure theres an American equivilant where there's a American fan sitting in the wrong teams stand.
Its not our fault you generally only play sports with each other. You know, outside your country, theres people of all colours, not just white and black.
Watching this ad, the idea of race didnt even ENTER into my mind. My first thought was "Oh shit, poor bastard bought a ticket for the wrong supporters stand. It only becomes a racial thing when you make it, when you put racism into it.
Its not our fault we're playing World Series Test Cricket where we ACTUALLY play people from other parts of said world. Yeah, pretty fucking crazy idea. I know, it's hard to wrap your mind around it, but I'm sure if you can try, you can realise America is a PART of the world, not THE world.
...Yeah, hoping for too much, I know.
scabble said @ 1:05pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:3 Insightful]
Are all Aussies so condescending? This strawman that "ooh, Americans are silly because they don't play sports against other cultures" is absurd.

"Oh shit, poor bastard bought a ticket for the wrong supporters stand. It only becomes a racial thing when you make it, when you put racism into it."

OK- wait for it... if you're in America, and you see this commercial, THE AUSSIE IS THE ONLY CLEARLY DEFINED OUTSIDER. Oh noes, he bought the wrong ticket! What should he do? Well, if you're a viewer in the US, he appears to bust out an offensive racial stereotype- fried chicken for the black people. Yes, we DO understand the "I'm in the wrong section" dilemma, which often winds up being very confrontational- I'm sure this plays to why people expect an adversarial action from the only character who isn't like the group that we culturally insensitive bastards identify with as being "us."

This is a stereotype THAT REGARDS THE PRODUCT THE COMPANY SELLS. You can understand (I hope) that this would be of concern to KFC. The US doesn't have a lot of stereotypes regarding fried chicken, but we do have one- and it's a doozy. It dehumanizes black people by suggesting they are little more than animals. It isn't an issue of people reading things in that aren't there. You don't see how the imagery is loaded with "other" reads because it isn't culturally relevant to you. I'm quite sure the people who made the ad weren't thinking about it, either.

Its not our fault you generally only play sports with each other. You know, outside your country, theres people of all colours, not just white and black. Watching this ad, the idea of race didnt even ENTER into my mind.

And here you have quite eloquently illustrated the dilemma of cultural ignorance. You don't see what others do see. INSIDE our country there's people of all colors and cultures. I've had these sorts of discussions with folks outside the US, and it always comes down to statements like these. YOU don't see why there is an issue, and insist that we shouldn't either. I'm not defending the validity or necessity of stereotypes, I'm merely stating that they exist. Because they do. It's true. Your point of view suggests that the reasons for the outrage (I.E. the disparaging stereotypes) are mere rumors or myth. I assure you, they are not.

Next thing you know, Matt will chime in to say that Black Americans should "reclaim their cultural heritage" by eating more watermelon. In any case, I personally promise KFC will rush to fill the void left by the absence of this ad.
EPT said @ 4:06pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:2]
If you're in American and the only place you see the ad is on youtube with someone saying OMG HOW OFFENSIVE! - that is, you are not seeing it on your own media - then you should be considering the ad in the context it came from unless you're a completely insular, shortsighted fool.

And what the hell is up with invoking matt? He's barely been on in years.
snowfox said @ 5:43pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:2 Informative]
If you invoke matt thirteen times in a row his wang appears and you cum.
Silent said @ 5:52pm GMT on 7th Jan
just what I've been wanting to say, just without the crude insults I would have thrown around in a rage..
Way too much coffee.
Misanthrope said @ 8:19pm GMT on 7th Jan
This is the internet. You have to see things from every context.
scabble said @ 10:22pm GMT on 8th Jan
Why invoke Matt? Deja vu. We've had this conversation before.
the belt said @ 1:49pm GMT on 7th Jan
I'm assuming you're just engaging in good-natured ribbing and general venting, and that you're smarter than someone who would paint an enormous nation with such a wide brush, but the obnoxious American in me can't help but run to the guns.

"Its not our fault you generally only play sports with each other. You know, outside your country, theres people of all colours, not just white and black."

According to the CIA:

Australia: "white 92%, Asian 7%, aboriginal and other 1%"
US: "white 79.96%, black 12.85%, Asian 4.43%, Amerindian and Alaska native 0.97%, native Hawaiian and other Pacific islander 0.18%, two or more races 1.61% (July 2007 estimate)
note: a separate listing for Hispanic is not included because the US Census Bureau considers Hispanic to mean persons of Spanish/Hispanic/Latino origin including those of Mexican, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican Republic, Spanish, and Central or South American origin living in the US who may be of any race or ethnic group (white, black, Asian, etc.); about 15.1% of the total US population is Hispanic"

I don't have time to do the math considering the weird Hispanic clause above, but on quick glance, there are more non-white people in the US than the total population of Australia. (20% of US pop is roughly 60 million people, Australia total pop. is roughly 21.5 mil). I know it's an imperfect way to compare make-up and cultural impact of different groups, but it's a start.

And speaking about Baseball, there are currently 17 nations represented in the Major Leagues (including 13 Aussies) not including players in the minors. Admittedly, it's silly to call it the World Series, but considering it was named in 1903 when the sport (in its modern form) was a baby and needed attention, it was most likely named so as an chest-puffing marketing strategy. When a talented Cuban defects, or a talented Japanese player makes the transition to Major League Baseball, they do it for 2 reasons: big money and to compete in their sport at the highest level. And fans of their new US teams are generally ecstatic to have them on board (same with National Basketball Assn., and I don't watch hockey, so I can't really speak for that one).
Ultra Megatron said @ 3:58pm GMT on 7th Jan
Oh, I'm definetly talking very much tongue in cheek, however I am genuinly annoyed about the principle.
I am pissed off that once again, ONE countries culture and stereotypes has resulted in something not made for them, not intended for them, to be removed from broadcast in a country that ISNT their own.
It's bullshit. If America held itself to the same standards it expects of other countries (ie: being told whats appropriate for their own culture by a foreign country/culture), then that would be fine. But they DONT.
If America played a ad or did something that another country found offensive, when faced with a complaint, they'd say "Fuck off" and RIGHTLY SO. Your culture and humour and accepted standards/humour/sensitivity to stereotypes in YOUR country, in any form, whether speech, media, or anything else is YOUR business, and your right to say/do/whatever.

And seriously, black people eating fried chicken is a reference to them being savages? How the fuck would savages fry the chicken, and in KFCs case, know/apply the secrets herbs and spices. Sorry, no really, that was my first thought, followed by "....wtf?" Seriously, how does a particular food associated with a person of a certain race make that particular race look bad, especially considering every other damn race enjoys that food too? How does that work exactly? Fuck, even your racist stereotypes are retarded and make no sense.
....Seriously, I just can't figure this out. With as much respect as possible, grow the fuck up.

Regarding the baseball, I didnt for a second mean to imply that americans dont like and arent fully supportive of foreign born players. Not at all. As far as "World Series" being a bit of chest puffing, I had NEVER honestly thought of it like that. But straight away I get it. Thats fair enough.

As for my comment about people of different colours, again, that was purely mock condensending assholery. I'm incredibly cynical with a viciously dark sense of humour.
But in a nutshell, I'm just pissed that great mighty america says theres a problem about something that wasnt for them, and as a result, another country has to go without. American should not, and cannot dictate to us what we can and can't choose to enjoy and find funny, or watch.
It's bad fucking enough our government is pushing ahead with this mandatory internet filter BULLSHIT, I for one and many other Australians don't need another fucking COUNTRIES government telling me/us what to do. Fuck off, I'd never dream in a million years to do the same to you, no matter how offensive I found something. Serves me right for poking my nose where it didnt belong.
Ultra Megatron said @ 4:08pm GMT on 7th Jan
One other thing, oh believe you me, I do NOT think all americans are like the small vocal minority who go out and make the rest of the country look stupid to the rest of the world. Don't worry, we've got PLENTY of them here. Somedays I'm even one of them, strangly enough.
But seriously, the nicest person I know, totally fucking top awesome bloke, is American. From Montana actually. But he moved to Australia. Hmmmm, might be something there..... joking of course
Besides, theres so much of American pop culture that shaped and continues to shape my life. I fucking love the culture that america has offered, and I've taken. Believe me, I've taken. Mind you, I have a distinct preference for your 80's culture :D
But as I've stated many many times, I dont agree (mostly) with censorship, and certainly not from and due to foreign meddling.
the belt said @ 4:21pm GMT on 7th Jan
Fair enough, thanks for taking my comment seriously.
Ultra Megatron said @ 4:24pm GMT on 7th Jan
And thank you for taking the time to post a intelligent comment with lots of points to discuss.
Menchi said @ 10:03pm GMT on 7th Jan
"Some of my best friends are American!"
The question is, would you let an American use your toilet?
MmmFiber said @ 11:59pm GMT on 7th Jan
Isn't there a compatibility problem?
ring riot said @ 4:19pm GMT on 7th Jan
....Seriously, I just can't figure this out.

You seem to be unaware of the fried chicken/black people association and how that's become a negative racial stereotype in America in many people's eyes.

Instead of saying you "just can't figure it out", my advice would be to do some research and go back through the iconography of racism in America's history and find out yourself. You're on the Internet, after all.

You saying you "just can't figure it out" and not doing a simple Google search to find out the history of it for yourself - and then telling us to "grow the fuck up" (granted, you added, "with as much respect as possible" to it) - because you personally don't understand something in American culture - it's a bit disingenuous.
Ultra Megatron said @ 4:41pm GMT on 7th Jan
I apologise, I freely admit I know nothing of the DETAIL and REASONING behind the "black and fried chicken" thing. But I definetly know/knew of its existance.
But what I will say, without looking at any materials, is that I sincerly dont believe any amount of reasoning and examples will make me be able to say "thats reasonable". I mean, I'm sorry. Its a food. All humans eat food. And believe you me, you want to see a fucking savage primitive human? Watch me go a day without food and then be given a buffet smorgasboard. I swear to you I will violate that buffet in many many ways. I promise I will even bring my own spear.
But seriously, seriously, I just dont understand HOW food can be racist when connected to people of a certain race.
....Doesnt this "savages" stereotype reference the old idea of african tribes with witch doctors, that sort of thing?
Africans have that "stereotype" because theyre the oldest race on the earth, aren't they? Africans were never "savages", they had the oldest culture and perhaps the least "refined" but, compared to what else at the time?
The way I see it, the Africans had it right, we white folk fucked it up, shat on nature and everything it offered, and went out of our ways to build artificial infrastructure and basically make life as complicated as possible.
Whats wrong with having a simple life, with simple rules, and simple society? Nothing savage with that, savage is countires waging war for oil, destroying peoples lives and livelihoods for profit margins and bullshit.
Thats savage. And primitive.

...of course I could be (and probably AM) completly wrong with this whole idea and missed the point entirely. Definetly wont be the first or last :D
But is that the general gist? Or is there a few specific examples, or what?
snowfox said @ 5:46pm GMT on 7th Jan
Fried chicken is a food that was commonly prepared by Southern house slaves for their masters. It was probably a real treat to get to eat any.
lost said @ 6:44pm GMT on 7th Jan
I think it was more that slaves took a food and made it their own. Like greens. Without money to buy the traditional seasoning they made up their own with what they could get their hands on. It is typical oppression style to take anything that the oppressed "owns" and make a mockery of it. Trying anything they can to psychologically keep the slaves down so they would not rebel.

It is pretty funny but surprisingly common that food made by the poor and oppressed become delicacies later. Fetching high prices for the oppressor and becoming unobtainable by the poor and oppressed.
Misanthrope said @ 8:21pm GMT on 7th Jan
Though not the case with fried chicken.
lost said @ 8:48pm GMT on 7th Jan
That's true, notthe case with greens either...but they should be. both are delicious.
kishi said @ 5:57pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:1 Insightful]
To be fair, talking about wanting a simple life with simple rules might be more effective if you weren't typing it on an expensive piece of electronics and sharing it with other readers across the globe via a medium only made possible by a handful of complex technological devices invented by people living in the same cultures you see as having "fucked it up."
arctan said @ 12:56am GMT on 10th Jan
Africans have that "stereotype" because theyre the oldest race on the earth, aren't they? Africans were never "savages", they had the oldest culture and perhaps the least "refined"

...Wow, shit, see, if you're going to go on an "AUSTRALIANS AREN'T RACIST" rant you really need to check yourself before saying shit like this.

I wouldn't talk like that if I really thought it was at all likely you knew, like, anything at all about African history on which to base this kind of statement, but depressingly, most people really don't.

Anyway, the fact that you seem ignorant that this is not a stereotype about "Africans" per se but about African-Americans who were brought to the USA as slaves, and is a stereotype about *slave* culture and *slave* food, means that you're starting at a rather depressing level of ignorance to begin with.
lost said @ 6:36pm GMT on 7th Jan
If you dont want another country telling you what to do you should be boycotting KFC not supporting it. They are selling you shitty american chicken. and probably putting local good chicken out of business.

This is an American company pulling its commercial because it offends americans. They are not saying you should never sit on the west indies side of the stadium and you should never give KFC to Black people.


" Fuck, even your racist stereotypes are retarded and make no sense."

I don't think anyone here would disagree with that.
arctan said @ 12:54am GMT on 10th Jan [Score:-1]
And seriously, black people eating fried chicken is a reference to them being savages? How the fuck would savages fry the chicken, and in KFCs case, know/apply the secrets herbs and spices. Sorry, no really, that was my first thought, followed by "....wtf?"

I wasn't aware that me, as an American, being *aware* that a negative stereotype does indeed exist and seeking to avoid that stereotype in order to avoid insulting people makes me responsible for justifying why the stereotype is logical, as though I was the one who invented it.

But, for the record, "savages" was perhaps the wrong phrasing. A better way to put it would be that associating black people exclusively with fried chicken is a way to stereotype "black" as meaning "lower-class and uncultured", given that fried chicken is an unhealthy food associated with having uncultured, inexpensive tastes prone to quickly-made junk food.

And this is an association that, like all stereotypes, comes from some grain of truth, in that the slaves in the American South were indeed in a situation where something as simple as fried chicken would seem like a great luxury, and were therefore vulnerable to being mocked for it.

I'm actually surprised you see this as being so illogical. Is it really that alien to you the idea that you could mock someone, say, of a certain *social class* for liking what is considered cheap, fattening, "poor" food? Is it impossible to insult someone in Australia for being the kind of person who lives on cheap meat pies or hamburgers or greasy fast food?

Is it then so difficult to make the connection that associating a race with a cheap, greasy form of cuisine is a way to slam that whole race for being lower-class?

As for my comment about people of different colours, again, that was purely mock condensending assholery. I'm incredibly cynical with a viciously dark sense of humour.

It's really jerkish to claim that the reason Americans are "sensitive" about things like this is that we have no experience dealing with people of different races when, really, almost the exact opposite applies. I think the only reason Australia can do stuff like have blackface acts on a mainstream primetime TV show without fear of offending people is that it's a country that's more than 90% white.

American should not, and cannot dictate to us what we can and can't choose to enjoy and find funny, or watch.
It's bad fucking enough our government is pushing ahead with this mandatory internet filter BULLSHIT, I for one and many other Australians don't need another fucking COUNTRIES government telling me/us what to do. Fuck off, I'd never dream in a million years to do the same to you, no matter how offensive I found something.

You act like there were Americans who went to your country with guns in hand, or even legal papers in hand, *forcing* you to watch or not watch something. Like this has anything to do with the American "government" whatsoever.

That's not what happened. This is a corporation based in America with a multinational clientele choosing to change their behavior because they have to take all of their customers' reactions to them into consideration when making their product.

The fact is that KFC's stock isn't very high with me and many other Americans, psychologically speaking, right now, and anything that makes them look like jerks will harm their market share even if it's only on an unconscious level.

They do what they do to protect their profits. It's no individual American or group of Americans "making" them do something. It's people at KFC protecting their bottom line by trying to make the company look good whenever people look at it -- and that means managing all the parts of the company's image that are visible, no matter in what context.

We live in a big and increasingly interconnected world. It isn't *possible* to just have a commercial that's only viewable and only ever viewed by Australians in this world, even if we wanted to. So don't fucking blame me for the fact that something that is visible to 300 million Americans and makes a company look bad to Americans will cause an ad to get pulled.

Yes, America has a disproportionate influence because America has more money and America has more *people*, but the same thing can happen and *has happened* in reverse, especially with some relatively recent brouhahas with the Chinese government officially objecting to stuff like Nike commercials showing anti-Asian stereotypes. It's a big world. That's how it goes. That's what it is to be multicultural, and objecting to the basic sensitivity required to be multicultural -- saying "I should be allowed to say ANYTHING I WANT in MY COUNTRY and not have people from other countries notice or care" -- is a jerkish thing to do.
anger_die said @ 1:50pm GMT on 7th Jan
Well, I concede your race riots seem to be on the relatively tame side compared to many others, but gosh would it be awkward walking out my front door every day if I were of Middle Eastern descent. Sometimes Australia reminds me of Kansas.
EPT said @ 3:37pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:1 Insightful]
Gosh you're patronising. Come over here and tell our large Lebanese and Turkish communities that they're living in the midwest of America.
Misanthrope said @ 8:23pm GMT on 7th Jan
Bring your Lebanese and Turkish communities over to fight our Lebanese and Turkish communities.
EPT said @ 10:16pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:1 Funny]
Kebabs and tiny, strong coffee for everybody!
arctan said @ 1:00am GMT on 10th Jan [Score:-1]
Also:

I think another problem is that in Australia, we laugh at stereotypes, we don't take them seriously. Why would you?

That's a damn fucking presumptuous thing to say. Why don't you ask someone of aboriginal descent whether *he* thinks racial stereotypes are a casual matter not worth getting upset about because Australia isn't a racist country?

This is eerily similar to conversations I have with relatives about China and how "There isn't any racism in China".

It's bullshit; there's racism everywhere. If people say racism "isn't a problem" in their country, three times out of four it's because racism is *such* a problem that the oppressed races in question are so few in number or so lacking in power that you never get to hear them talk at all.

And yeah, it's hilarious that you think that Australians are more used to racial issues than Americans because you see non-white people once in a while at international cricket matches.
Nihil said @ 12:33pm GMT on 7th Jan
You're right, but the fact that it was smart of KFC to remove the ad, in order not to offend some of its customers, doesn't change the fact that it was dumb - or, more accurately, ignorant - of the customers to feel offended in the first place. It's like if a Chinese company broadcast an ad featuring skeletons in the West and got bashed for it at home.
Ultra Megatron said @ 12:43pm GMT on 7th Jan
I dont get it. Is there a thing in China about skeletons, something to do with the "ancestors" thing? I confess I know little/nothing in this subject, any chance you could explain the concept a little more? I'm ignorant, but interested
scabble said @ 1:19pm GMT on 7th Jan
I agree, to a point. The issue I take is where to proscribe the ignorance. If you saw this in America, you have barely a clue that it isn't a football game, or a soccer (yes we know about "futbol") match.

Look- I'm not saying these things are good or right. But the whole "chicken and black people" thing is loaded imagery in the US. Because of that, ANY combination of the two needs to be treated with care. In this case, it wasn't- unless the plan was to never let someone from the US see it.

I think the real issue is that this should never have been shown to American viewers. But the cat's out of the bag now, and KFC pulled the ad.

To me the bigger issue is that some people find the imagery offensive, and some don't see it. But there's a hostility toward the offended. It's as if they are wrong for reacting to the imagery with a conditioned expectation. Americans come from a lot of places- Africa, West Indies, it doesn't matter. The sort that furthers the effectiveness of stereotypes like these don't distinguish between them. They are all lumped together as "black."
FifthSpango said @ 1:49pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:1 Insightful]
At least in the case of the young turks, it is rather galling that they set themselves up as liberal progressives, yet wholly fail to consider the context of the culture that spawned the advert.

Personally I found their smug comments far more culturally ignorant than anything ultra megatron has said.

And it would be "football" not soccer, or possibly "association football", if you wanted to distinguish it from the American bastard child of rugby.
EPT said @ 3:43pm GMT on 7th Jan
I also found the Young Turks comments extremely shallow and context-free, and curiously after complaining of racism, they then use anti-Australian racist stereotypes in their reply video. These guys aren't intellectual behemoths.
clair7857 said @ 5:14pm GMT on 7th Jan
They make me feel angry when they do that.
nbob said @ 1:14pm GMT on 7th Jan
It's an Australian ad! There's no reason for it to be viewed in America, it just wouldn't make sense, which is where the real friction is sourced
anger_die said @ 2:10pm GMT on 7th Jan
I'm sure the great firewall of Australia would be put to such use eventually, but this being the internet and the era of fast travel and all, there really is no limit on how much media and information such as this can spread.
moriati said @ 12:56pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:2]
Australia - founded by our criminals.
U.S. - founded by our religious zealots.

God Save the Queen!
b said @ 2:55pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:1 Funny]
Canada: founded by your polite and sensible!
anagramophone said @ 4:05pm GMT on 7th Jan
...and French.
loomspace said @ 3:58pm GMT on 7th Jan
Most reasonable bunch of criminals I've ever had the pleasure of knowing!
KingPellinore said @ 1:40pm GMT on 7th Jan
Wow, everything that's going on in the world today and it's the pulling of a KFC commercial that sets you off?
EPT said @ 3:56pm GMT on 7th Jan
It's not the pulling of the commercial, it's being told a non-racist thing is racist by people who aren't cluey enough to look at it in context.

A bit like when those idiots did their jackson five blackface skit and the pundits in the US went nuts about 'how racist Aus was', neatly ignoring the furore that skit raised here as well.

Australia does have a racism problem that needs to be addressed. But then, everywhere has a racism problem that needs to be addressed. Australia somehow got an image as being a more racist country than others, but the examples people give are no different in quality or quantity from what I've heard or seen elsewhere.
KingPellinore said @ 4:39pm GMT on 7th Jan
Well, for what it's worth, the first I have heard of Australia being more racist that other places is from your comment.

As for the ad, isn't it possible that the US-based company saw its own ad and in their context (based in the US) saw something that could offend?

But I understand how you feel. I live in the southern US and there's a huge perception that we're all a bunch of racists, too. I see where the perception can set you off.

As for US pundits, I recommend giving them exactly as much attention as I do. Which is to say, none at all.
snowfox said @ 5:54pm GMT on 7th Jan
The south is an interesting thing. My grandmother is from Yonkers, NY and when they integrated schools in NY there were riots. The same thing did not happen in Texas, most likely because the south has a higher percentage of minorities than the north, and thus had to at least somewhat deal with the issue because it was unavoidable. In New York it was white enough that lots of people had never had to deal with minorities and shit a brick when someone made them.

Basically while the south may have been a center of racism in the US, I suspect it's only because the south is more diverse, and because of the early racism, the south was forced to deal with racism much more. (Obvious example is that it is super easy to claim you aren't racist if the place you live is all the same race as you; conflicts never occur because there is no opportunity).

Keep in mind I am not talking about the swampy south. There are some scary rural states left out there.
KingPellinore said @ 6:03pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:1 Underrated]
Rural anywhere is scary. People get weird when they're all spread out.
arctan said @ 1:43am GMT on 10th Jan
A bit like when those idiots did their jackson five blackface skit and the pundits in the US went nuts about 'how racist Aus was', neatly ignoring the furore that skit raised here as well.

I don't know about "ignoring the furor". I do remember that there were a shit-ton of *Australians* coming out on the Internet who actually tried to *tell us stupid Americans* that Australians don't have a problem with racism, there is no racism in Australia, and that skit "isn't offensive in Australia" -- which, I mean, how do you want me to take that?

Everywhere has problems. Shit happens in the USA that shocks me all the time. The fact remains that I can't imagine something like that airing on mainstream American TV at all in the first place, never mind airing and causing a "furor" afterwards. And no, I don't think that the thing that makes blackface offensive is strictly an American issue and an artifact of specifically American history.

Australia somehow got an image as being a more racist country than others

I don't know about "more racist". I certainly wouldn't say something like "Australians are more racist than Americans", which is itself a form of the prejudice it hypocritically decries.

I *would* say that a country with a much larger racially homogeneous population is a place where one can *get away* with racism more easily, and that that's what makes it easier for Australians to point fingers at Americans and call us "oversensitive".

I say this as someone who, for many years, believed what my parents told me about how racism was an "American problem" and "there is no racism in China" and then, after actually studying the matter, being horrified at the *enormous* amounts of racism in China -- the kind where it seems like there's no racism because the minorities are so minor no one even remembers they exist.
EPT said @ 12:43pm GMT on 10th Jan
I do remember that there were a shit-ton of *Australians* coming out on the Internet who actually tried to *tell us stupid Americans* that Australians don't have a problem with racism

To some degree it's because like all modern anglo nations we're a melting pot and have made great strides in combatting racism. Taking a single incident and applying it to an entire nation is where it rubs - after all, how many times do we hear Americans complaining here of exactly the same thing. You will also find Australians who claim we're the most racist country in the world (a somewhat shortsighted claim) - they're just not likely to post online with lusty abandon about it.

The fact that the ad in question wasn't remotely racist in it's correct context yet drew fire because of shortsighted nitwits also doesn't help; after all, no-one likes getting rapped on the knuckles for something that wasn't even wrong.

On the blackface thing, yes, there were defenders of it here. By furore I meant it was a polarising issue.

But yeah, racism is everywhere - it can't not be, not really. It's just a matter of extent. Until we start seeing each other as individuals (which will be a long while yet), it's going to stick around.

<tangent>
tl;dr inbound

On a tangent, I spent about a month following and posting comments on an anti-racism blog. It was a bit startling and a bit worrying. I learned a thing or two, but also there is a shitload of groupthink and you're treated differently depending on your skin - in the same comment thread, myself (white man) and another poster (asian woman) said exactly the same thing, that we were uncomfortable posting there in previous posts because what we thought was different to the groupthink. I got disciplined and told I was skirting the line with that comment and nearly moderated out, the asian woman got encouraged to post more and that people will be nicer to her. It also paid to be a black woman on that blog (run by a white man, btw) because you can be directly abusive and never be questioned on it, let alone disciplined/moderated. I ended up leaving watching that blog because treatment was decided on race rather than content. I had to wade in a few times to defend people on the merit of what they said instead of their skin type - similar to what we do here when we rephrase the meat of what someone says.

It was pretty sad to see in a community that was supposed to be good at seeing the subtle nuances of that sort of thing, being unable to see the difference between someone being angry and someone being plain abusive. That last sentence describes why this experience was so notable for me, that these people were supposed to be the ones with a clue and so many of them lacked one.

There was some good stuff on there that I learned from other commentors, such as why black feminists don't necessarily agree with the measures that whites do - the example given was that many of the advances of white feminists were based around legal action and policing to gain parity with men, but for black women in a societal group already reeling from disproportionate issues with the law, this adds a burden that helps screw things up further.

The ironic thing was when I started watching the blog, it was touted as 'a safe place for whites to discuss anti-racism issues' (being that whites wading in to other forums and trying to discuss their point of view are often unwelcome or unhelpful) but instead I found it a place where you get rapped for asking sincere questions or exploring ideas. It seemed more like a game of Where's Waldo than an attempt at self-education.
</tangent>
EPT said @ 12:56pm GMT on 10th Jan
Sorry - forgot to say

What lead me to the tangent was what you said about racism in China - the first post I saw in that blog was one talking about particular features of dominant white culture as if they were peculiar to whites. I didn't think this was really going to help understand the human condition because much of what they were saying was evident in dominant -foo- culture, not specifically white, and I didn't think that declaring many (not all) of these things as a specifically white problem instead of a human problem was going to help in the long run.
mego said @ 2:07pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:2]
We play Canada in hockey, baseball, and maybe basketball. If Canadians played real football (100 yards, 4 downs. Not that otherworld "football") I'm sure that we would play them in that too... Of course you could say that Canada doesn't really count, and I'd agree. But it is still a country; technically.

The U.S. is a pretty big place and we have more than enough big cities and eccentric billionaires to support franchises all over it. The plus side is that we don't have to worry about losing to other countries, America always wins and that's the way we like it.

This is the reason that soccer doesn't count and nobody cares about the Olympics unless we know we're going to win an event and just want to watch it happen.

The way we see it, KFC pulling that add is just one more victory for the USA. It doesn't matter to us how stupid we looked doing it, because we won. That's the important part.

b said @ 2:57pm GMT on 7th Jan
you don't play MLB with us though, just juniors, women, olympic etc. none of the divisions that "count" to american baseball fans.

and yet we share both nhl hockey and nba basketball with you...

:p
kishi said @ 3:16pm GMT on 7th Jan
The Toronto Blue Jays?
b said @ 3:46pm GMT on 7th Jan
d'oh!

they took away the expos though.
mego said @ 3:52pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:1 Funny]
We didn't think anybody would notice.
Ultra Megatron said @ 4:21pm GMT on 7th Jan
Do you say that agreeing with it, or is that a "its the way it is" attitude, or are you saying it with a smirk, or what? For me at least, what you've said takes on a totally different meaning if its sarcastic, genuinly meant, or sharp and biting.
But one thing you said "THe plus side is that we don't have to worry about losing to other countries, America always wins and thats the way we like it." Thats great, thats fine, I get it, you like to keep it in house, you like to always be able to have a home victory in one way or another. I get it, I totally get it, and I respect it. However, how do you justify, with on one hand this atittude of "We'll keep our sports to ourselves, MAINLY, but we'll tell other people what they can and cannot do in their own countries" America, if we're not good enough to play sports with, then keep your fucking opinions and demands of what we choose to enjoy and find culturally okay to your selves.
I also wonder what people would think of this ad if it wasn't framed by accusations of racism. I think if you're looking for racism, you'll find it just about EVERYWHERE in EVERYTHING.
mego said @ 6:13pm GMT on 7th Jan
Sarcasm. I don't care for actual debate.

That aside, my view on the whole ordeal is this:

Thanks to the internet, the commercial made its way to people in the U.S. and we over reacted because that's what we do. I don't think it was pulled because of us telling them they can't show it, I think it was them seeing us freak out and realizing that a racist image, however undeserved, could hurt profits here in the U.S. regardless of whether or not the commercial was ever meant to be seen by a United States citizen.

I'm sure whoever is in charge of the KFC franchise thinks that people are acting ridiculous (and they are), but they are still going to try to make us happy so we will keep giving them our money. The U.S. is their primary market, after all.
kishi said @ 3:16pm GMT on 7th Jan
Well, sure, there's issues of Americans interpreting things by their own social context. But there's also KFC Australia bowing to complaints on the other side of the world, so maybe some of that rage should be aimed at your own countrymen. Just a thought.

Oh, and the World Series? Two countries, sucker! Yeah, I bet you feel pretty foolish about that now.
Ultra Megatron said @ 6:17am GMT on 8th Jan
Do you mean the time Japan came out, KICKED your asses and handed them to you, all nicely arranged and folded, then you made it one country again?
Or are you talking about Canada? Okay then, how about a country youre NOT landlocked with them, huh?
All said with tongue firmly wedged in cheek

As for "directing my rage at some of my own countrymen" I completly agree.
Hence why I feel SO SORRY for the poor woman at the KFC complaint line that had to deal with me. For a hour.
And the person at the national franchise headquarters. For another hour.

And I'm going to kick in the head the next person who says "But its just a KFC ad" No, its a fucking major principle about Australia bending its knee to fucking American just BECAUSE.
Fuck KFC, dumb fucking company that makes shithouse chicken anyway.
kishi said @ 6:39am GMT on 8th Jan
Well, the Baseball World Classic- which involves, what, 12 or 16 countries?- and the World Series- which is what you were originally bitching about- are totally different things. So, what are you complaining about again anyway? And landlocked? I don't think that word means what you think it means.

And, really dude, I think you're spending *way* too much time and energy on this. Now, I didn't say "But it's just a KFC ad." But, well, yeah, it's a stupid commercial. Yeah, it was stupid of people to get involved in it. But is it really such a vast issue that you feel like you need to spend two (or more) hours on the phone complaining about it, plus the time spent here, plus time spent about it elsewhere? Put the keyboard down, go outside, breathe some fresh air, and move on with your day. People are dumb all across the world- if you let yourself get all riled up over it, you're going to waste a lot of time and energy that can be spent on something better.
CompletelyIrrelevant said @ 3:10pm GMT on 8th Jan
I fucked your mother, and I want you to die.


But it's okay, because I'm tongue-in-cheek AND making a winking interwebs smiley ;)
arctan said @ 1:39am GMT on 10th Jan
You really need to stop slamming Americans for ignorance and then saying idiotically ignorant things yourself.

The World Baseball Classic, which actually is international, is a totally separate entity from the World Series. It does not occur every year but occurs every three years, because unlike the FIFA World Cup it's organized by recruiting "all-star" teams from each country rather than having one specific club represent one country in one year -- and this is for a variety of reasons but is mostly due to scheduling concerns because the countries represented at the Classic are relatively few and the major ones (Japan, US, China) have baseball seasons that conflict with each other.

The idea that we somehow "opened up" the World Series and got our "asses kicked by Japan" and then closed it up again seems to be the opinion of someone who knows almost nothing about the subject and jumped to a really bizarre conclusion based on nothing.

FWIW, Japan did in fact both win the only two Classics they've managed to organize so far, but few baseball fans even in Japan would argue that this conclusively means they're the "better" country, since the whole nature of the Classic means that 1) the teams aren't very representative of their home countries, given American players are giving up VASTLY more money to come out for the World Baseball Classic than teams from, say, Cuba, and 2) the nature of the tournament means that it was designed to maximize each national team's playing time, meaning that, for instance, in the first tournament Japan had the exact same win/loss standings as the USA going into the finals but the convoluted statistics system they used for qualifying meant Japan got into the semifinals and the USA didn't.

(Yes, I was temporarily a baseball geek during the 2006 Classic, if only because it was one of the few opportunities to cheer on a Taiwan team with a nontrivial chance of success in a major tournament.)

I wouldn't normally be *this* much of a pedantic dickwad except that as an American who thinks America does indeed deserve a lot of negative comments directed at it from other countries, I nonetheless can't stomach a "Dur hur ignorant Americans" rant coming from someone who apparently knows almost nothing about things outside his own country and seems to be very satisfied with a rather smug and tunnel-visioned view of things inside his own. (You don't think racist stereotypes are a problem in Australia? Really? Do you recall something bad happened in Cronulla in 2005, news of which even made it to the provincial shores of self-absorbed Americans like me? What about that unpleasantness in Melbourne, all the way back in the dusty ancient bad old days of June?)
ckfahrenheit said @ 3:32pm GMT on 7th Jan
The americans in question are not with us. You can slap them.

aside: FWIW, as an american I'd like to let AUS know that I for one was pulling for Simon Whitlock last week
chard said @ 3:33pm GMT on 7th Jan
Chicken is nice
Chicken is nice
Chicken is nice with corn butter and rice
mischa said @ 3:43pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:1 Insightful]
ugh young turks is so gay
ring riot said @ 3:56pm GMT on 7th Jan
Ultra, it's pretty simple.

It may not appear that way in Australia - the context makes sense there.

In America, this is how it's perceived by anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of our country's history of racism, its iconography and its stereotypes.

Uncomfortable lone white guy surrounded by "rowdy" black people with what sounds like tribal drums playing. White guy offers them fried chicken, they immediately calm down, and he says, "too easy".

Yes, of course, it's perfectly understandable when seen in the context of a West Indies team and Australian culture - but to those in American culture, especially to those who don't understand that it was made in Australia for Australians, would immediately see it as a shockingly - and directly - racist advertisement - made by KFC. Almost comically so. In fact, from an American perspective, it's so direct, it easily would have worked on Chapelle's Show as a parody.

But, like I said, of course I understand the context - but you have to understand that when a video ends up on Youtube, not everyone is going to know that it was made for Australians - they're just going to see that it was made by KFC, an American-based company, and they're seeing it on Youtube. Not everyone will look up the news story that says it came from Australia. In case you haven't noticed, there are plenty of Australian actors over here, and in commercials as well as films.

So yeah, it's a cultural misunderstanding. I'm not sure whether KFC should have pulled the ad from Australia, etc., but just as you're saying that we should understand Australian culture, you should understand how Americans would have perceived it who were unaware of its origin;
at least initially. KFC's ultimate decision is another matter, really.
ring riot said @ 4:00pm GMT on 7th Jan
P.S. I should add that I disagree with KFC's decision to pull the ad - it would help matters more if KFC actually released a statement explaining the cultural difference, etc. - or not. Either way, my comment was just about the initial reaction to it in America and why it was reacted to that way.
Ultra Megatron said @ 5:36pm GMT on 7th Jan
To me, KFC pulling the ad is them basically saying they think its racist too.
To me PERSONALLY, I'm offended that people would find us racist and possibly suggest/imply that we don't like the West Indies, or enjoy their Steel Drums. Totally couldn't be further from the truth.
But as far as the business decision goes, I totally agree with it.
I dont have to like it though. Profits and money more important than an ad of people having fun?
Oh one more thing, if its so racist and wrong, why the HELL did all those West Indies supporters do the ad? And why did a spokesman from their embassy say that there was nothing racist or wrong in the ad?
Look, I'm NOT fucking arguing that it could be VERY VERY controversial to the american marketplace. But hey, it wasnt MADE for you guys. Why the fuck should your sensibilites result in the banning of a product NOT intended for your consumption? Who the hell made your decisions override ours?
The funny thing is, I'm not really seeing anyone disagree with my main points, that in context its not racist at all, and america(and indeed any country) shouldnt tell other countries what they can and cant have/enjoy/whatever, and that, morally and by principle at least, the ad shouldnt have been pulled. Damn, all this typing arguing a point noones disagreeing with. Fucking going to bed :D
arctan said @ 1:22am GMT on 10th Jan
To me, KFC pulling the ad is them basically saying they think its racist too.


Okay, well, that's a stupid reaction. KFC is a profit-driven entity, and a massive, bureaucratic one. They don't do *anything* based on abstract moral concerns. They do what makes a profit.

To me PERSONALLY, I'm offended that people would find us racist and possibly suggest/imply that we don't like the West Indies, or enjoy their Steel Drums. Totally couldn't be further from the truth.

So you feel entitled to your kneejerk offended reaction at other people's offended kneejerk reaction?

Whatever, dude. They're not saying something about you or all white Australians or whatever; the vast majority of people who are offended by this probably don't give a shit about white Australians or have a consistent mental self-image of them, to say nothing of faceless KFC suits.

It's as simple as this ad creating a negative mental association in people's minds and KFC not wanting to have a negative mental association, conscious or unconscious, floating out there on the Internet where it can damage their brand.

If anything, I had no negative reaction at all simply upon seeing the ad, just a sort of humorous "Wow, it's amazing how people can be totally unaware of stuff from other cultures" reaction.

The only person today who's lowered my opinion of white Australians today is you, and that's mainly because of the doggedly and ridiculously entitled "BLACK PEOPLE IN AMERICA *DO NOT MATTER* TO ME *AT ALL*" bullshit reaction you're flinging around, and the skeevy territory you've crossed over into while pushing that line.

And hey, you know what? If KFC for some reason did an ad about interactions between Han Chinese people and Uighurs from Xinjiang province, and it was offensive and demonizing toward Uighurs from Xinjiang province, and a lot of people started speaking up about how this could negative affect relations in China, I would totally support pulling the ad. It would be less likely for it to happen, but I would be okay with it, because, y'know, the Internet does mean it is all one world. And I need to be damn careful about saying when my reaction matters more than other people's, especially when the sole benefit I could get from this is a chuckle and a "Ha ha, cute commercial" and when the harm involves propping up a really nasty cultural system of racist stereotypes.
EPT said @ 4:17pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:1 Insightful]
I absolutely think they should have pulled the ad. It's a short, short ad and the PR damage done in market A is far greater than the run-of-the-mill advertising advantage in market B. I don't think the withdrawal is a moral question, but it sure as hell is a business question.

It was an ad made for, by and directed at Australians, but it's hardly a killer ad, and the withdrawal is a total no-brainer.
ring riot said @ 4:20pm GMT on 7th Jan
Actually, in terms of the PR damage done, you're right.
Pudding_Master said @ 3:57pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:1 Insightful]
First, KFC's PR staff really fucked up. That the ad could be seen as insensitive in the U.S. is just obvious. Regardless of the target market or where the ad was produced, they should have know the ad would be seen in the U.S. seeing how KFC is an American company. If anything a fast food competitor would see the ad and try to create a stir. I imagine someone got fired over this...poor schmuck.

That being said, the most offensive part of this post is Ultra Megatron incommensurate response and bigoted rant. I mean...it's a fucking KFC ad dude?

On a related note. KFC's marketing dept isn't all full of retards. I like this kind of stuff.

[url=http://www.tribstar.com/local/local_story_006125838.html]http://www.tribstar.com/local/local_story_006125838.html[/url]
Pudding_Master said @ 3:59pm GMT on 7th Jan
sorry about fucking up the URL. I don't know why that doesn't work...cut and paste I guess.

http://www.tribstar.com/local/local_story_006125838.html
ring riot said @ 4:00pm GMT on 7th Jan
I DO agree with you about their PR staff fucking up with the ad. Definitely.
EPT said @ 4:22pm GMT on 7th Jan
It's not obvious because we really don't have the same stereotype you do. ;)
Pudding_Master said @ 10:34pm GMT on 7th Jan
Its obvious to every American and KFC is an American company. If it were an Australian company making ads in Australia than we probably wouldn't be talking about it.

If they don't have someone at corporate watching out for these things than they aren't doing a very good job protecting their brand. If I were running the show I would sure as shit try to make sure that no part of the company is producing ads that could be viewed as offensive in any of our markets. Especially our largest market. If this turned into a big fuss in the U.S. it could cost the company billions. What if someone important in the black community here or even one of those wack-jobs on Faux News ran with it? Even if only a small percentage of their customers avoided the store for a few days it would be very expensive. These are just the things you have to think about in business today.

My company has had some bad press in the past and speaking from someone who has been on the inside, it ain't fucking pretty. About 4 years ago a competitor was able to get some dirt on one of our partners published in the local paper...a bad decision they made in their personal life nearly 20 years ago (24 now?) that had absolutely nothing to do with our business...and we are still paying for it today. We lost 5-7million USD in sales this year alone because of it. That is a lot of money out of my pocket considering that we have 9 people working in our company and our profit margin is about 35%. The world is fucked up, people are small minded and they will judge you unfairly. It sucks but that is just how it is.

KFC sucks anyway.
EPT said @ 7:35am GMT on 8th Jan
KFC is an international company headquartered in the US. That ad was made by KFC Australia, no doubt contracting to an Australian advertising agency for an Australian audience, specifically a cricket audience.

What if someone important in the black community here or even one of those wack-jobs on Faux News ran with it?

Well: "The ad was pulled immediately". If Faux news continues to run with it in an attempt to do damage, well, hello lawsuit. As for 'someone in the black community', well, the 'black community' is a bit more fragmented than that, and the commentary has been anti-Aus, not anti-KFC. Damage in the billions? That's just funny. They only make $500M revenue a year.
scabble said @ 10:20pm GMT on 8th Jan
Since you're the "Pudding Master" I want to believe your company sells pudding, and I want to believe that the scandal involves pudding. I doubt it does, so I want no further explanation.
Ultra Megatron said @ 5:53pm GMT on 7th Jan
Oh, and every fucking Australian stereotype you bastards say or do isnt offensive to me/us? What about that Japanese MacDonalds mascot, Mr. James or whatever? Wha the fuck stereotypes were that? Oh right, fat stupid idiot gaijin. MacDonalds is an american company, surely they would have seen how offensive it was, and blah blah what the fuck you just said.
Noone big reported it or said a thing. Not a FUCKING WORD. And they were never forced to stop it. But this, oh its blacks, we're already so culturally oversensitive about how we fucked up that we're going to jump down anyone elses throats who says or does anything that FUCKING REMINDS US HOW BADLY WE FUCKED UP!
I've said it once and I'll say it again. Grow up. Get over it. You fucked up. We all make mistakes. Big ones, and little ones. Have you PERSONALLY wronged a African-American? No? Then stop being so FUCKING sensitive to something you have NOTHING to feel guilty for.
Look, at the very least, dont push your fucking guilty conscience onto us. Not our problem. Not our fault.
Ultra Megatron said @ 5:58pm GMT on 7th Jan
I take back what I said about noone big reporting it or saying a word. But what was done? Was anything done?
Misanthrope said @ 8:28pm GMT on 7th Jan
If the racial stereotyping was with regards to the Chinese or Koreans, then that might be a similar example.
arctan said @ 1:49am GMT on 10th Jan
I'm not one of those people who says "You can't be racist against white people by definition" or something stupid like that, but seriously -- Japanese people mocking white people and white people mocking black people are not the same fucking thing. When you're talking about whether a joke is tame or not, who's sitting on top in general does kind of fucking matter. When a lot more men actually beat their wives than vice versa, then a joke about a man beating his wife is a lot less tame than vice versa. That's how the world works.

And for the record I'm of Chinese descent, it's highly unlikely my ancestors owned African slaves, and I really try not to "personally wrong" African-Americans (though I'm not so arrogant to say I know I've never done so and have "nothing" to feel guilty for), but it's not about guilt. It's about seeing bad ugly patterns in the world and not wanting to contribute to them.

Look, at the very least, dont push your fucking guilty conscience onto us. Not our problem. Not our fault.

Hoo boy. Yes. Totally distinct. *Zero* connection between white Australians, the rest of the Anglosphere, and the whole general way the British Empire and its former offshoots have fucked with the entire goddamn rest of the world.
Nostrildamus said @ 4:25pm GMT on 7th Jan
Australians have no idea that black people are supposed to like fried chicken.

We think they eat grubs and drink woobla, unna.
ComposerNate said @ 4:30pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:1 Funny]
mwoody said @ 5:14pm GMT on 7th Jan
Summary of this post's extended:

"A group of two or three Americans said something on Youtube, so a corporation decided to pull a short, not particularly interesting or creative ad. Fuck Americans! They're all so racist, painting cultures they understanding nothing about in such broad strokes! Look at this youtube video, a US-based site, and look at how the vast majority of American commentators disagree with the actions of KFC and the Young Turks. See how all those Americans agree that Americans are all racist!

"I can't believe that a company that operates internationally wouldn't just say "fuck you" to their largest market in order to keep a commercial running in a smaller one. There's no way for people in the US to even see the commercial - it's not like there's a global network or something where it might get posted! Seriously."
Ultra Megatron said @ 6:17pm GMT on 7th Jan [Score:1 Underrated]
Dude I'm laughing my ass off. You've totally ripped me one, and youre totally right, and its fucking hilarious! That said, I didnt say that I knew that those dickhead turks werent representing everyone. But it was more than them. I also said I feared that this attitude was BECOMING the rule, not that it WAS the rule.
But yes, you got me good. And I havent had a laugh like this in a little while. Sincere thanks
mwoody said @ 6:27pm GMT on 7th Jan
Awww, this is way less fun when you're a good sport. *sigh* Alright, +1.
EPT said @ 10:28pm GMT on 7th Jan
Hey, leave Britney alone!
cb361 said @ 11:07pm GMT on 7th Jan
I've never even been to France.
Sarah Palin said @ 11:35pm GMT on 7th Jan
That's my favorite city!
ComposerNate said @ 5:40pm GMT on 7th Jan
EPT said @ 12:39am GMT on 8th Jan
I love that sketch.
lost said @ 6:00pm GMT on 7th Jan
I am confused why you are so vehemently defending a short commercial from a corporate entity that is trying to sell you crappy chicken.

In Australia is it normal for white people to give chicken to black people to calm them down? Cuz that is..in essence.. what they are saying.


"Our chicken is so good it will cause people to stop having fun and sit down and eat it." That is the message.

Sure, its probably just by chance it is a "white" guy giving it to "black" people...but who cares.

What if America had a commercial depicting a bunch of white people dancing and acting all crazy, then a black family pulls out a baby to calm them? I am sure that means more in Australia then America..hmm actually that would probably offend Americans as well, but for different reasons.

We live in a global world nowadays and its the high road that leads to sensitivities of other cultures. I think pulling an absurd commercial with no artistic merit whatsoever from the "YUM!" corporation is a small price to pay for goodwill.

I am still upset with that Nike commercial that was pulled because it "offended women". You remember that one? The one where Jason breaks in on that woman in the cabin and then she outruns him? That commercial was awesome.
KingPellinore said @ 6:05pm GMT on 7th Jan
Maybe KFC could do another commercial, but with dingos and a baby this time.
Ultra Megatron said @ 6:20pm GMT on 7th Jan
Now see, the problem is, I'm sure plenty of Australians would use that opportunity to whinge, or even actually be offended, but I for one would find that HYSTERICAL! Also, the baby one in america, I wouldnt care, because its yours, its for you. Its not my business, nor my countries business to tell you guys what to do.
KingPellinore said @ 6:32pm GMT on 7th Jan
You're right. It's not our business to tell you guys what to do at all.

It is, however, KFC's business which commercials they run.

KFC being a USA based company, I don't actually see where the US has told Australia to do anything.
arctan said @ 1:04am GMT on 10th Jan
Yeah, this is a galling example of someone mistaking "censorship" (the government telling you what to do) vs. simple free-market capitalism.

When a commercial causes a bunch of people think badly of you and have negative psychological associations with your product, then you pull the fucking commercial, because your concern is with profits, not with some abstract principle of free expression for the fucking ADVERTISER you hired to make a commercial for the SOLE PURPOSE OF INCREASING YOUR PROFITS.

Seriously, the OP acts like the commercial was some kind of great work of literature that was created for its own sake, as opposed to just being a cog in the giant, carefully managed profit-maximizing machine that is the KFC brand identity.
snowfox said @ 7:27pm GMT on 7th Jan
Why is offering white people a baby offensive? Is that a reference to the popular trend of adopting foreign-born children?
KingPellinore said @ 8:28pm GMT on 7th Jan
Maybe it's because of the calming effect the tender flesh of the innocent has on us white devils.
ComposerNate said @ 9:05pm GMT on 7th Jan
virgins
dook_sucks said @ 6:10am GMT on 8th Jan
The package they're advertising is called "THE CROWD PLEASER" so they show it pleasing a crowd.
arrowhen said @ 11:01pm GMT on 7th Jan
Good thing it wasn't a Popeye's ad.
dook_sucks said @ 6:06am GMT on 8th Jan
The stereo type is that African-Americans eat a lot of fried chicken.

West Indians are neither African nor American. It's not their stereotype to bear.

I know, I know "all you black people look alike."

I think this is the greatest irony...It's racist to think this is racist!
Naruki said @ 7:07am GMT on 8th Jan
The stereo type is that African-Americans eat a lot of fried chicken.

And that's where your attempt to be clever fell on its ass.

The kind of people who believe in and propagate that stereotype typically don't apply it to "African-Americans", but to "niggers". And to them, all niggers are equally black, regardless of where they were born.
arctan said @ 1:02am GMT on 10th Jan
Only if you think "racist" is some sort of objective quality that is scientifically detectable to be present or not present in any given media, like the presence of lead in water.

Things aren't objectively "racist". Things are racist if they end up being observed by people and seen as part of a racist pattern -- if they end up making oppressed people feel oppressed and if they end up making oppressing people feel agreed with.

It doesn't matter whether the KFC ad is "objectively" racist, it matters that there are a lot of black people who will feel like the ad is attacking them and, more importantly, a lot of racist white people who will feel like the ad is taking their side.
lilmookieesquire said @ 7:45am GMT on 8th Jan
I think the thing is, is that he didn't eat it himself.

I can clearly see how it would be considered racist in the US.

I think it would be like a commercial in the US where a white guy in a hunting outfit walks into an insurance shop with a few Indian looking families in the background saying "When you... need to get... dirty, pack E-insurance."

Maybe it's harmless in the US, but it might not be well received in Australia.
EPT said @ 11:34am GMT on 8th Jan
Well, I'm confused... is that what you mean by not well received?
rattus said @ 12:51pm GMT on 8th Jan
Look at all these comments in here. Good god. Get the fuck over yourselves.

Who cares if Americans think it's racist. Americans are the most chronically offended people in the world because people respond to their bullshit whining about crap.

They should be ignored.

Naturally, I'm an American largely annoyed with Americans.

It reminds me of this:
yizzo said @ 1:29pm GMT on 8th Jan [Score:1 Informative]
lol at the typical australian cry of "we're not racist" in the media


All I can say is that after the abuse I suffered last year, I'm glad out gonna be out of the country for most of this mouth, so I won't have to spend Australian National Racism Day (aka Australia Day) in Australia.
Naruki said @ 2:10pm GMT on 8th Jan
Ultra Megatron assures me that you were not abused, since they are not racist and they only laugh at things like that.
EPT said @ 9:17pm GMT on 8th Jan
Meh, we have racism problems like anywhere, but that particular ad was not racist. I'll cop it on the chin when relevant examples are provided.

Sorry you've had bad experiences, but call things for what they are, otherwise you're guilty of the same thing you deride.
Omegaphobic said @ 9:39am GMT on 9th Jan
There are a whole lot of ignorant fucking white people in this country. There really are. And it's often not the people you'd expect who open their mouths and say something abysmally racist. The impression I get of America is that there are much clearer boundaries over there between distinct cultural groups so you wouldn't get Joe Redneck associating a great deal with, say, black-clad hipsters.

Over here, the ignorant fuckers are spread throughout the white population, and are distressingly common.
hackiavelli said @ 11:03am GMT on 9th Jan
So, Australia's having a collective meltdown over two people whining on a youtube video?
Dissonant said @ 2:17am GMT on 10th Jan


I LOL'ed.
Dissonant said @ 2:17am GMT on 10th Jan
http://www.all-lies.com/legends/business/products/pepsiinchina.shtml

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