What does the campaign do? Yes, “two Asian guys called “Gang” and “Dong” are the presenters and main characters” both in several short films and an online gameshow / animated questionnaire that help users to find a suitable university in eastern Germany. The campaign uses well-known stereotypes about Asia in order to draw attention to less obvious stereotypes about eastern Germany. We want young people to re-think (or unthink^^) their notion of what is an exciting region in the heart of Europe with lots of excellent opportunities for studying and living. It only works if people recognise these stereotypes as such.

The feedback we get from young Germans with Asian origin and from young people in Japan is very encouraging. Anyway… we appreciate the fact that our “academic” campaign is discussed internationally, sociologically – and alongside Kentucky Fried Chicken, sorry: Kentucky Grilled Chicken! Any more thoughts on our approach?

I feel like “Bruno” and the extreme level of absurdity of the film makes it fair game. Cohen isn’t being serious; it’s not a statement about his feelings of gay people in Austria, he’s just making uncomfortable situations happen to real people.

Also, if you even knew what Bruno was about, it’s less about race and more about homosexuality. Fact-checking is a good thing.

HA! you seriously werent trying to offend with that comment? cut the bullshit, dude.
im a sociology major. im devoting the next several years of my life to studying sociology. how am i not supposed to interpret that as an asshole comment?

and if you really dont understand what sociology is its not our job to educate you. fucking google it.

As has already been stated, the “asian” men are sushi chefs (how could you not see that in the first second?!).

Also, there’s a difference between “racial” and “racist.”

Maybe we could turn the tables: What kind of advert or message would this blog produce (in a :30 format) to appeal across multiple nationalities/ethnicities without being racist?

As someone else suggested, maybe they’re hoping to use the ad in Japan as well? The English is simple and could easily play in non-native English markets.

Still doesn’t do much for the American market…

It is the second comment in the comment thread, by JamesVG3.

I probably gave too much credit to the KFC folks because I hadn’t recalled their exact response to JamesVG3′s complaint. I apologize for any misinformation I may have given with the previous post I left here.

Reading it over again, the two Japanese men were sushi chefs and their outfits in the KFC commercial were their work outfits. So there’s more context in that these were their own clothes, and possibly they are from Japan which would explain their accents (? It would be different to a degree if they were American born and raised, not sushi chefs, and were told by KFC to don those clothes and affect an accent just because they’re ethnically Asian, just for this commercial).

Still, it does not absolve KFC from the fact that they may have insisted to the two chefs to wear their outfits, and the director of the commercial may have insisted that they act goofily to amp up a “comedic” factor. How much of the commercial were the two Japanese chefs’ true personalities, and how much was the direction and instruction of the people behind the camera?

fwiw, as I noted in this post, the phrase has been attributed to Carmen Van Kerckhove:

http://stuffwhitepeopledo.blogspot.com/2009/02/act-like-racist-in-order-to-demonstrate.html

Apparently some of the people– regardless of race– featured in the KGC ads were actual chefs, and the two Asian men were Japanese chefs (hibachi maybe?) who showed up to the filming in their work outfits (which obviously look inexplicably outlandish within a KFC commercial). The response stated they were not asked to do so, but just showed up like that. The producers/crew thought it was fine and they filmed the Japanese chefs in the clothes they came in.

That obviously doesn’t make the ads less stupid, but if KFC’s response is to be believed, it’s not the same as KFC saying, “Hey, you two random Asian dudes– make sure to dress up in funny ‘Oriental’ clothes when you show up for filming.”