KFC ad called racist, what a joke!

[David]

I'd have to see the ad to comment with any real certainty, but the interpretations offered by wokko and others seem sound. And this whole 'Australians are racist' thing is such a crock of shit. I was talking to a friend today (of Indian racial background) who grew up in Singapore, and she was of the opinion that the racism over there is many times worse what people encounter here.

What I find most galling is politicians from countries like India (forget a Bollywood career if your skin is too dark) or Malaysia (Chinese uni student? Good luck with that) accusing Australia of being a racist country. They know it's bullshit; but they get away with it because many from here are ignorant enough to assume that xenophobia and racism are somehow phenomena peculiar to Western countries.

The makers of the ad should certainly have been aware of that particular racial stereotype; whether, if they were indeed making an ad that only co-incidentally referenced it, they should have given two hoots about it, is another issue.

[Skids]

What KFC should do is another ad at the WACA, A west Indian surrounded by screaming locals, holds up a few cartons of Hahn Super dry(and some chicken fried or grilled, who gives a furk) and watch the crowd go silent.... bring it on!

Bottom line is, it's not WHAT you are it's WHO you are.

The Irish have been the brunt of jokes for a century, do we see them weeping in their guiness.. (I'm not saying they're all beer swilling drunks or anything like that)

[Skids]

[OEP]

[pietillidie]

This will be long and meandering. Sorry The intention is not to be long-winded, but to explore ideas.

As I said in a post above, I actually don't think Australia is more racist than most countries. But of course more is expected of highly-developed countries, so I'm not about to compare Australia with a developing country from an historically war-torn region (clearly wealth and stability beget legal and institutional development and vice-versa, so we need to assess with a significant degree of cultural relativity). More homogeneous countries such as Japan have barely started dealing with such issues, while it's a great sign that here in South Korea issues of race have started making the front pages with regularity. Across the world there are racial clashes obviously far more startling than what we see in Australia. So let me clarify that from what I can tell Australia is doing well but inconsistently so; blacks and Muslims certainly seem to do it a lot tougher in Australia than other groups, acceptance still takes a lot longer than it could, and many people I've spoken to face systemic racism say in the workplace (e.g., Asians are accepted as tech geeks or bean counters but not as managers). Attitudes towards Aborigines of course continue to be disgraceful. Outside of that I would say the strong individualism of Australia means tolerance of diversity would be much higher than in most countries. The legal protection of minorities in Australian law also seems strong, creating a considerable safety net for those times that relationships fail.

But let's look a problem in the eye when we've got one; we are light years off having a black prime minister, an Indian minister of defence, or a Muslim CEO of BHP. Certain parts of the US no doubt lead the way in this regard, and surely we should be aiming as high as we can.

An interesting way to look at our own racism is to look at discourses about other races encoded in our language. Similar ideas to this can be found in sociology:

White Racist Discourse

Whites:
[+] rational; enlightened; stable; moral
[--] dancing?; basketball?

Blacks:
[+] good at sport and music; have physical prowess
[--] irrational; unpredictable; unintelligent; lazy; oversexed

Hispanics:
[+] friendly; passionate; creative
[--] emotional; lazy; dirty; sleazy

Asians:
[+] intelligent; organized; hard working; systematic; wise
[--] unassertive; dirty; lack physical prowess; unexpressive; cruel

Muslims/Arabs (these two groups get conflated with each other)
[+] ?
[--] unpredictable; fanatical; barbaric

Communication is clearly not simply about words which have dictionary meanings; it's about complex systems of symbols. In communications, it is assumed every word, action or symbol triggers a concept and a group of related concepts; this is why the Coca Cola and McDonald's brands are worth billions of dollars. I read one classic advertising study once which showed that people enjoyed Coke some enormous amount more when they saw the Coke logo before drinking it. This is how the brain works. Expensive wine physically tastes better; products endorsed by Tiger Woods used to seem better Corporations spend billions of dollars on triggering cognitive associations because it works and an increasing number of scientific findings are demonstrating why (see cognitive biology, linguistics and communications).

Okay, so when we put a white bloke amongst a group of black people we are immediately triggering a whole range of ideas tucked away in our minds. The vast majority of them, unfortunately, are negative and false. Then you add cricket (triggering memories of recent racial issues and past British colonisation), a white bloke with a smug look on his face (the superior white rationality discourse), blacks dancing and singing (the black music and passion discourse), the white bloke feeling threatened by the mob (the unpredictable black discourse), the bright idea (the superior white rationality discourse), the junk food (the lazy immoral black discourse; the US fried chicken discourse); and the white man prevailing (the quick-witted colonial Englishman outwits blacks discourse), you have stirred up more than enough ideas that can go wrong.

People who have good communication skills are always careful not to do this; racists or insensitive buffoons blunder through and commit faux pas and don't get get the deal signed or invited back to the party. Communications professionals are usually paid to avoid such blunders.

I guess I haven't followed this theory myself because I've purposely been provocative and no doubt at times sound as self-righteous as Tim Lane However, while I'm critiquing Australia in this instance, I find myself defending the country (and the record of white man generally, no less) on several occasions a week. I also feel the brunt of being a minority in Asia at times, too. In my work, it is my responsibility to take my clients' side and they are not white, though they have to deal with white companies and countries. This means I have to put myself in their shoes and I can tell you it's not always a pretty sight looking back at who we are. Some of the communications I analyse from white people are quite disgraceful. One can learn a lot from doing this.

So this is not "pretentious" academic theory; it's reality on the ground and the reason why many deals don't get done. Have you ever wondered why Asian countries do so well in parts of Africa and the Middle East and have started winning so many big contracts in these places? It's because they don't have the same cultural discourses distorting their communication with Arabs and Muslims. This has huge implications because if the next wave of development is Asian and Arabic, Western countries are going to struggle to compete to be part of it not simply because our wages are higher. Anglo-America had to invade the Middle East to get contracts; Asian countries simply put assumptions aside and negotiate them.

Australia has a huge geographic advantage in relations with Asia, but we still have to make sure we get both our understanding of culture and our PR right. Even if the "racist redneck convict" discourse is false or greatly exaggerated, it can still damage us, as can the vocal and aggressive racist minority. Also, discussions with people from diverse cultures have made it clear to me that more is expected of us because we're so obviously blessed with space and resources and an uncomplicated history and uncomplicated borders; the spotlight is on us whether we like it or not. Keating did the right thing to position us in Asia, and despite the Howard years we still should be an exemplar of how international relations, tolerance and open mindedness is done. The first step IMO is to stop defending rednecks and faux pas and ignorance and mistakes in relations with Aborigines, the peoples of the Pacific, and minorities. In fact, the middle class has to start standing up vocally against racism instead of sitting idly by and giving the impression silence is consent. Who stood up and loudly and clearly defended Indian students, a group which represents the second-fastest growing economy in our region whose parents in many cases mortgaged their lives to give their children the chance to contribute to our economy? Our reaction was just not good enough. We should've been beating down the doors of offices of power demanding a vigorous public response which gave Indian students security and which considered the cultural interpretations placed on the incidents by Indians back in India. Enlightened self interest should drive us if nothing else.

I realize on this issue I've put forward a mix of arguments that are not yet coherent and are no doubt contradictory in places and across posts. Nonetheless, when you stand outside your own culture many of these these various elements are starkly visible. Hopefully a more coherent theory follows

Edits: sorry, bad habit of editing after rather than before posting

[HAL]

What does "this" refer to? There is no need to apologize. Describe your surroundings. You want more? What is that? I'm listening. Compare that to inside that he or she would say the strong individualism of Australia means tolerance of diversity would be much higher than in most countries. Yes, it is interesting. That is a generalization. I don't think I've read that. Can you give me a reference? You don't say. Yeah okay, I am not sure I agree with your assumptions, pietillidie. Oh those people. That's good information. That is a very original thought. Thanks for telling me your opinion. What is that feeling like? Who made you the brunt of being a minority in Asia on occasions ? his or her charge he or she take his or her clients' side and they not white they have to deal with white companies and countries are not white is ? Should it be pretentious academic theory; it's reality on the ground and the reason why many deals don't get done? I don't think I ever have wondered why Asian countries do so well in parts of Africa and the Middle East and started winning big contracts in these places. What's wondered why Asian countries do so well in parts of Africa and the Middle East and started winning big contracts in these places like? What happened to it? Australia is my home. Yes, even that. Your discussions with people from other cultures the world made it clear to him or her that more is expected of us because we're so blessed with space and resources and an uncomplicated history and uncomplicated borders; the spotlight is on us whether we like it? What was the second? What specifically brings consent to mind? Marilyn Monroe. :-)It would be nice if our reaction was not good enough. By "we" do you mean you and me? I did not know that.

[Proud Pies]

Geez, they should have just used the Collingwood vs Adelaide final and picked a poor lonely Collingwood Supporter sitting in the midst of feral Adelaide supporters when Jack kicked the winning goal......can't you just see him passing round the KFC to passify the crowd.

That was my take on the ad. I didn't see it as racist at all, just a bloke in a tough situation with opposition team supporters.

[jack_spain]

It's a mad, mad, mad, mad politically correct world.

I don't like it one bit! "Propaganda Nazis" second guessing your every thought.

Such overuse of the the term "racism" does two things:

1. It means that real racism (the Holocaust, apartheid) is devalued.

2. It means that white people get fed up with being called racists and say stuff 'em. I'll think and say what I like!

I always remember being told in America that racism was always whites taking shots at blacks. Black people can't be racists they said (it's a power thing). Twaddle I said. I'll always judge people on what they do, not the colour of their skin or culture. Idi Amin was a racist! Robert Mugabe still is!

[Joel]

[HAL]

What do we do instead? Surely something either intrinsically or subjectively racist in this commercial when viewed from an Australian or Caribbean point of view. Tell me more about ridiculous is the stereotype is that Black Americans eat alot of fried chicken more ridiculous.

[Joel]

[Joel]

[nomadjack]

Sorry, but I'm currently in southern USA at a political science conference that includes a lot of people working in the area of race and racism, and not one of them has mentioned the ad or anything to do with it. Simple fact is that it has not rated a mention over here. Even the story in the New York Daily News was minor, and in the poll, 66% think it was harmless fun. The 'uproar' in the Baltimore Sun is even more laughable. Have a look through the comments section - there is not one American complaining about the ad. The only 'uproar' is from Australians pointing out the sheer stupidity of the original story. There has been no uproar here and those of us that genuinely give a shit about racism could do without the bullshit that flows from faux outrage over ridiculous beat ups like this. Next.

[stui magpie]

[Wokko]