Finger Lickin’ Foul? KFC Called Out For Ad Campaign Deemed “Racially Insensitive”

We live in a time where some of the biggest brands of yesteryear have found themselves in hot water recently amongst today’s consumers when it comes to the messaging in marketing. Long gone are the days when a haute couture house like Balenciaga could get away with a fashion editorial that fetishizes children for style-driven shock value. No longer can a lingerie brand as big as Victoria’s Secret in the ’90s survive in today’s climate with its signature stick-figure standard body frame — well, former standard, thanks to new billion-dollar competitors like Rihanna’s inclusion-focused Savage X Fenty line. In short, everyone’s paying way more attention to what they’re paying for, and more importantly the package it’s being sold in.

That’s been quite the topic of debate on social media these past few days when it comes to a new ad campaign by fast food empire Kentucky Fried Chicken. Famously shorted as KFC, the company’s Canadian market released a set of print and commercial promos that play heavy on the chain’s “Finger Lickin’ Good” slogan. The over-arching theme sees KFC jokingly “apologizing” to utensils for providing food so good that it only requires hands to consume, preferably at a ravenous pace.

Unfortunately, not everyone saw it as “finger lickin’ fun” and felt their apology should be for the campaign itself. The print ads in particular depicting a Black man getting down on a drumstick and a Black woman using her fingernails as toothpicks for a chicken sandwich caused most of the uproar and had some of our people screaming,“das raciiist!” Even when KFC Canada’s Director of Marketing, Azim Akhtar, posted the ad in its entirety on social media platform X, some still weren’t too satisfied with the company’s strong stance behind the campaign.

RELATED: Kellogg’s Issues Apology After Racially Insensitive Cereal Box

We all know Black people don’t play when it comes to our food. Who could forget Mary J. Blige’s now-infamous 2012 “crispy chicken” Burger King commercial, which received such a negative reaction that the entire thing was pulled. The Queen Of Hip-Hop Soul even had to release an official statement on the matter, telling CNN at the time, “I agreed to be a part of a fun and creative campaign that was supposed to feature a dream sequence. Unfortunately, that’s not what was happening in that clip, so I understand my fans being upset by what they saw. But, if you’re a Mary fan, you have to know I would never allow an unfinished spot like the one you saw to go out.”

You tell us what you think:

That same year, Ashton Kutcher of MTV’s Punk’d and That 70s Show fame had a similar controversy for appearing in brownface, complete with a fake Indian accent, in a full ad campaign for Popchips. He even had on fake dreadlocks for one part!

While the two former examples of racially insensitive ads were rightfully scolded and swiftly swept under the rug to hopefully be forgotten about one day — sorry, we’ll be quick! — does KFC Canada deserve the same treatment?

See what many are saying about how KFC Canada’s new “Finger Lickin’ Good” ad campaign makes them feel, and let us know your thoughts on this latest race debate: