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Fast food retailer KFC Africa found itself in trouble this week over a now-deleted tweet that is deemed offensive.
Jacques Stander, Gallo Images
- Fast food retailer KFC Africa found itself in trouble this week over a now-deleted tweet that is deemed offensive.
- KFC Africa joined other brands, including Clicks, in apologizing to their South African consumers for the offensive ads.
- The Communication and Advertising Association (ACA) says the ad industry is working hard to achieve representation.
Fast food retailer KFC Africa said it failed to take into account the country’s diverse sociocultural nature after protesting a now-deleted tweet that got the company in trouble this week.
“The tweet was intended to be humorous in line with the lighthearted nature and tone of the Family Feud show. However, this is no excuse,” KFC Africa said in a statement to News24 on Wednesday.
“We fully recognize that it was not thought through, was insensitive and inappropriate and as such we removed the tweet and issued an apology to consumers on our Twitter page,” he added in his statement.
This came after KFC posted a tweet last Sunday that featured a picture of Tsonga’s contestants on the Family Feud SA show. The tweet said: “When you can’t decide on one color, you wear them all.”
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The post was removed due to criticism of its content.
“We acknowledge that we did not take into account the diverse socio-cultural nature of the country in developing this tweet and we take full responsibility for the error in judgment and, although we cannot withdraw what has been done, in the future, commit to be more careful with these cultural distinctions, “said the fast food retailer.
KFC wasn’t the only brand in hot water this week: Cosmetics and medical retail giant Clicks was embroiled in a controversy over a hair ad showing the hair of two white women as “normal” and “fine and flat.” while black women’s hair was described as “dry and damaged” and “frizzy and dull”.
READ | EFF to Step Up Clicks Protests, Says Members Should Back Off If Threatened
Members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) protested at Clicks branches, forcing the retailer to close the stores, which were expected to remain closed until Friday.
The advertisement in question was made by the brand of hair products TRESemmé. He issued an apology and members of his executive met with EFF leaders on Thursday.
Dis-Chem and Makro have joined the chorus of retailers removing TRESemmé products from shelves, following outrage over a hair ad on the Clicks website that depicted black women’s hair as “dry and damaged.” . | @BraGrobbies https://t.co/CGXfqGvdPK
– News24 (@ Noticias24) September 10, 2020
On Wednesday, the Red Berets gave Unilever, the company that licenses TRESemmé, 24 hours to explain the offending ad.
Diversity throughout the dash helps to avoid such problems – ACA
The Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA) believed that diversity in all areas was vital to avoid problems of racism and discrimination.
“[However] Ensuring that the agency and marketers understand all the nuances of each group in society can be difficult.
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“It is about having organizations that have a sense of current social discourse, the problems that affect society, the composition of that society and are able to understand what might or might not result in being considered offensive to any party,” he added. said the ACA.
The association further recognized that it could not claim that the local industry was sufficiently representative; however, its constituents needed to address this.
“We are actively pursuing activities to ensure representation is achieved.
“But at the end of the day, we cannot control who is employed in a particular position, and that person, regardless of who they are, can make a decision that could turn out to be wrong,” said ACA.
To mitigate this, ongoing education and training was necessary, the agency concluded.
The ACA was the recognized custodian of the South African communications profession. It is a voluntary organization formed both by and for the profession, with the founding principles of promoting commercial creativity, supported by transformation and ensuring a sustainable profession.
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