Booooooy, some of these corporations really need to get out of the pseudo activism business because many of them just canโt seem to do anything rightโin America or abroad.
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KFC Trinidad and Tobago is apologizing for its ill-advised decision to recognize Emancipation Dayโan August 1 holiday that commemorates the emancipation of enslaved people of African descent in former British colonies in the Caribbeanโby posting a graphic of a KFC chicken drummette accompanied by a shadow in the form of a Black power fist.
Itโs the epitome of โYou had one jobโ displayed in a single image. All they had to do was write โHappy Emancipation Dayโ and put their little chicken bucket logo in the corner somewhere. But no, they had to be extraโwhich for KFC means putting a fried chicken drummette next to an internationally recognized symbol of Black pride. (Theyโve also ensured that all future โdrums vs. flatsโ debates will go off the rails almost immediately. I can just hear it now: โThe revolution wonโt be televised, itโll be deep-fried...and yโall pro-flats ass niggas are the oneโs Harriet wouldโve shot!โ)
Of course, the social media backlash was swift with people calling out this racist imagery.
To be fair, some people also pointed out that the stereotypical connection between Black people and fried chicken isnโt as relevant everywhere as it is in the U.S.
But, then again, KFC Jamaica managed to whip up a โHappy Emancipation Dayโ image that was...well...normal.
KFC Guyana also did the damn thing by putting together a beautiful, controversy-free image to use in commemorating the holiday.
Anyway, according to Buzz-Caribbean, the image posted to KFC TTโs social media pages Saturday was quickly deleted and replaced by an image of balloons with the Colonel Sanders logo on them. That image was also deleted, likely because someone figured out that โHappy Emancipation Day...Now hereโs a bunch of colonizer face-balloons to illustrate our solidarityโ probably doesnโt send the right message either.
KFC TT ended up posting an apology for the whole fiasco.
โOur intention was to support and recognise the importance of this historically significant event,โ the caption reads. โWe recognise that our posts commemorating Emancipation Day drew some negative responses. Clearly we got it wrong and we want to unreservedly apologise for the offense caused. As a result, we will be reviewing the approval process of all our communications to avoid situations like this reoccurring.โ
(Updated 3/3/22 with new details)
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