Black Twitter Calls Out KFC’s Latest Campaign As “Racially Tone Deaf”

Marc Griffin
·2 min read
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Black Twitter has deemed Kentucky Fried Chicken’s latest campaign “racially tone deaf.”

On Thursday (Aug. 24), KFC Canada’s Director of Marketing, Azim Akhtar, revealed their ad on X/Twitter. He uploaded three pictures of the new advertisement featuring an all-Black cast of people licking their fingers.

“Sorry Utensils, It’s Finger Lickin’ Good,” Akhtar typed. “Latest campaign, I couldn’t be more proud!!” Black Twitter caught wind of the promotion and labeled the billboards racist. Some people questioned the intention behind casting all-Black actors for the ad, when everyone enjoys fried chicken.

“1. So [white] people don’t lick their fingers? 2. We still not eating this (in this country),” one social media user xweeted. “3. I just know it’s a Black person on the creative team like, ‘I knew this wasn’t a good idea, but they don’t listen to me, so I just clock in…do my work…[and] go home.'”

Another person spoke about the historical ignorance of the ad, giving context to the outrage. “This is why marketers/advertisers need to study art history and historic ad campaigns,” they typed. “The print ad vs the video came across as a caricature display of Black people..a picture is worth a thousand words….nahhhh this was a miss #KFC.”

And it wasn’t just Black Twitter going in; white people also called foul on the advertisement. “What the f**k? I worked in advertising, and if someone showed me a mock-up of Black people eating fried chicken as a KFC ad, I’d ask what the f**k was wrong with them and if they knew they were racist. Not one white person on any ad — and of course a well-known racist stereotype,” they added.

KFC Canada’s creative director responded to the backlash on Friday (Aug. 25), apologizing for “not being more thoughtful.” “My earlier post didn’t capture the full diversity of our latest campaign, and I personally apologize for not being more thoughtful in my excitement to share the campaign and only sharing certain photos,” he xweeted. “Here is the 60-second spot that is more representative of Canada’s diversity and our creative.”

However, that apology wasn’t enough for some. “You being the Director of Marketing,” another person expressed. “Sharing multiple gigantic billboards with black folks eating fried chicken licking their fingers is simply not it. No matter how diverse you feel this ad is.”

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