You may have seen it on the news – you may not have, but yesterday an Australian KFC advertising campaign was pulled from the television after it was deemed ‘racist’ by its American founders. The ad is centred on a lone Australian cricket fan, in a sea of black West Indians watching – one can only assume – a game of cricket. The Aussie Bloke – let’s deem him, Bruce – quiets the rowdy West Indies crowd by feeding them a bucket of the commercialised fried chicken, so he can watch his beloved game. This advertisement, it would seem, is in a string of allegedly ill-informed decisions made by Australian television producers. It would also appear that it is in particularly bad taste, especially given the ‘Black Face’ incident late last year on the Nine Network show ‘Hey Hey It’s Saturday’. But the question remains: Are Australian’s Racist?
The controversy lies in the fried chicken, itself. Apparently, it is considered a ‘stereotype’ that African people like to eat fried chicken. Being honest, who really thought of this when they saw the ad? If the same scene had been filmed with Bruce sitting in the middle of the Barmy Army, or a flock of All Blacks (pardon the pun that is associated with ‘flock’ and ‘All Blacks’. Perhaps that, in itself is racist? Maybe someone should report me to American authorities??), I assume that Australians would have exactly the same interpretation of the panorama before them – this poor man is trying to watch the cricket, and all he wants is the noisy bastards around him to shut the fuck up so he can watch it in peace! I mean, is that really too much to ask? Let me take you back to my Year 12 philosophy lessons. It would appear that in this situation, the greater good would be for the people to shut the fuck up so Bruce can watch the cricket. Fried chicken makes them shut the fuck up, so this is the greater good. I could even go all SVR on your arse by arguing and counter arguing and counter counter arguing and deepening the counter counter argument, but that would just be unbearable. Especially for the people who know what I am talking about.
It pisses me off that people are bringing up the ill-fated ‘Black Face’ skit, too. Fifteen years ago, the people of the Australian public found that sort of thing funny. Yes, it is a little risqué, but we are an easy-going bunch. We make fun of ourselves and laugh while we are doing it. What the newspapers and magazines and television shows failed to mention, is that five out of the six men in that skit, are of coloured descent. Not to mention the fact that they are all licensed doctors and happen to be highly intelligent men. The only reason that skit backfired the way that it did, was because Harry Connick-I-have-a-stick-up-my-arse-Jr. was in attendance and happened to rain on the parade. He claimed the skit was racist. This, coming from the man who lives in the country, where slavery was banned just over 40 years ago (and black segregation lessened even later than that), where they have just elected their first black President (not without controversy), and where he most likely lives in a house run by Costa Rican, Mexican or Portuguese employees – on a minimum wage, I might add.
It seems to me, that perhaps Australians are being blamed for racism in order to disguise the fact that most Americans are still running with the Klu Klux Klan. And so it emerges: Pop Culture and globalisation have had devastating effects on the Australian way of life. Soon, our upper-middle class will be living in houses the size of shopping complexes, and employing an Indonesian maid to give the rooms a ‘turn over’ once a week, as well as singing our children songs such as ‘Baa, Baa, Rainbow Sheep’ – all in the name of being politically correct.
The question now, is no longer whether or not Aussies are racist, but are we, perhaps, becoming too Americanised and desensitised to our own culture? I think we all know the answer to that one.
