Thanks for this post. Seen this ad several times now and it kind of boggles the mind--just the whole nonsensical aspect to it. Are the Asian guys supposed to be sushi chefs? Why not just go the whole nine yards and put them in ninja outfits and have them throw shuriken at pieces of chicken?

Is sociology a real discipline, or is it all stuff like this?

I'm not so much upset by mild racism in this ad, I'm more discouraged that there are people in advertising who can't see this is pretty fucking ridiculous. What kind of judgement do they have, and more importantly, do they think of asian people like this just by default? Fucking idiots.

Re: Cohen-- I get the feeling that something like the Dave Chapelle thing went down. Like-- Borat was originally a joke about how you could get Americans/Brits to OPENLY be racist, lampooning stereotypes. But then...it turned. It BECAME a caricature for people to shout at immigrants, became a joke at immigrant's expense. Like the Chapelle show switched-- except Chapelle quit when he realized it.

Just a guess.

OMG Christopher, a blog on the internet isn't rigorous academics? HEAVENS FORFEND. Surely you have struck a blow none can deny. Melting...melting...melting...

@mordicai: I was just asking. You seem a little defensive.

Speaking of "portraying Asian people as ridiculous" and calling it humour in order to sell something, I'd like to point your attention at a German initiative. I live in Germany and this is an official campaign to encourage young people to choose universities in former Eastern Germany. The campaign is called "Studieren in Fernost" ("studying in the Far East") supposedly to make it sound more exotic. The website http://www.studieren-in-fernost.de/ features short films about east German universities. Two Asian guys called "Gang" and "Dong" are the presenters and main characters. Even if you don't speak German you'll catch the gist of the films (they're frankly neither very informative nor very funny). Maybe seeing the "Gang and Dong" logo on the website will be enough. I'd be interested in people's opinions - I was pretty shocked to see that this was actually a government-sponsored campaign.

I don't know how any ad company could look at this, and not wonder about how it could possibly offend people.

@Christopher: Kindly go troll some other website.

Christopher -- why don't you just take a sociology class at a local community college and find out? Also, if you don't like this blog's content, you can always just start your own. Just a suggestion...

Elbu -- it seems like people from European countries (perhaps with the exception of the more ethnically diverse areas?) are much worse at realizing what is and isn't racially offensive because they are so homogeneous and don't have a large population of minorities who speak out when something fucked up like that happens. Which, for me, makes it more awful when Americans make the same mistake, since we're a country built on diversity.

I think you'd be interested in a series of ads for the New Zealand takeaway BurgerFuel. They have the same tired Asian stereotypes, as well as classist and sexist stereotypes. But you know, it's ok because they are supposed to be tongue-in-cheek!

I have posted the series of ads here: http://poppygallico.com/rant/and-now-i-have-lost-my-favourite-take-away/

(please excuse my commentary - it is only through your great blog that I have started to become really aware of this kind of thing so I am a beginner at social commentary!)

the asian bit is pretty out there but my favorite part of this commercial is when they have the little white girl and the little black girl debating grilled v. fried. they made certain that the black girl supported grilled chicken rather than fried chicken.

if nothing else, when kfc is given the opportunity to take the low road they try to be innovative about it. clearly black people loving fried chicken was too easy of a target so they went with the esoteric crazed azn sushi minstrel instead.

well played colonel, well played.

I take back my sarcasm & back Erika, Christopher-- there are plenty of sociology classes available; I recommend them. I personally chose anthropology over sociology, but learning to look at the world critically is a good skill.

They should take a clue from Wendy's, whose new toffee-coffee-whatever commercials (while incredibly annoying) have a fully ridiculous multi-racial cast.

Honestly, that wasn't my first thought upon seeing this commercial. I didn't personally think that the accents were particularly faked, and they didn't act any more or less ridiculous than anyone else in the commercial. The Japanese have an interesting KFC experience and have KFC for Christmas dinner in Japan.
My first thought was wondering why the Japanese guys were in the commercial at all and I assumed that KFC was going the same rout as a lot of companies lately and was using the same commercial in several countries to save money.

I apologize for not having a link at hand at just this moment, but after some blog digging I or someone else should be able to find the precise link-- in another blog's post about this KFC commercial, a commenter sent an email to the company and actually received a response.

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."

"Hipster-racism" is the perfect phrase. Thanks!

Christopher = troll.

I've been trying to pin down this kind of racism too. "Hipster racism" might cover it, though the term might be more applicable to other specific kinds of "ironic" racism?

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

Here is the link, to the Asian American blog 8Asians: http://www.8asians.com/2009/06/01/kfc-vs-kgc-wtf/#disqus_thread

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?

If these two Japanese chefs grew up in Japan, they are likely mimicking the style of commercials that are ubiquitous there. Which is to say, silly to ridiculous and lots of fun. I have no way of knowing, but it seemed very familiar to the style of ad there.

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...

You'd think a blog ostensibly dedicated to sociological analysis would be a bit more aware.

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?

If these gentlemen are, in fact, sushi chefs, that is a much more reasonable explanation--they (the ad makers) could have conceivably been going for the whole 'food' tie-in. It is a weird ad, but that pretty much goes without saying.

Even if the actors are sushi chefs who acted this way without any outside influence, that doesn't necessarily make this a non-racist portrayal of Asian people. It can still be racist in the context of American culture.

That... honestly came off to me more as a weird, bad attempt at mimicking Japanese slapstick. Needs more table flipping, frankly.

"I was just asking. You seem a little defensive."

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.

What do KFC and Sacha Baron Cohen's movies have to do with each other? It seems random to juxtapose them together like that. Maybe it's just me; my opinions differ completely on both of those subjects.

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.

@Elbu
A statement from the people behind the German campaign "Studying in the Far East" that you mention. For those who are not familiar with the project: it aims to attract more young people from western Germany to study in the eastern part of the country. Many teenagers in the west often still have a stereotypically negative notion of the east. So the idea is NOT to make eastern Germany more exotic as you guess. The campaign aims to reveal the absurdity of these stereotypes among young people - who were often born only after the end of the Cold War!

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?