KFC Trinidad apologises for ‘insensitive’ Emancipation Day artwork
Popular fast-food eatery KFC Trinidad has
issued an apology to citizens following a full day of backlash towards a post
intended to commemorate Emancipation Day, August 1.
The post, published on its social media
pages on Saturday, was captioned “KFC wishes you a happy Emancipation Day”,
however, the imagery was what triggered a wave of criticism as several Trinidadians
viewed it as insensitive.
The artwork, which has since been deleted,
depicted KFC’s famous spicy chicken drumstick, with the silhouette of what
appeared to be a hand in the background displaying the black power gesture.
Several hours later, KFC TT returned with
another graphic, one filled with balloons accompanied by a caption which wrote,
“Happy Emancipation Day (sic) On August 1, 1985, Trinidad & Togabo became
the first country in the world to declare a national holiday to commemorate the
abolition of slavery.”
KFC REMOVES THE OFFENSIVE EMANCIPATION DAY CHICKEN LEG GREETINGS AND REPLACED IT WITH BALLOONS.Posted by
KFC REMOVES THE OFFENSIVE EMANCIPATION DAY CHICKEN LEG GREETINGS AND REPLACED IT WITH BALLOONS.Posted by RTN on Saturday, August 1, 2020
The second artwork, also deleted, finally spurred an apology, which indicated, “At KFC Trinidad, we always strive to recognize our nation’s multicultural history and make up, and to play our part recognising it.”
“Our intention was to support and recognise
the importance of this historically significant event. We 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,” the company added.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by KFC (TT) (@kfc.tt) on Aug 1, 2020 at 5:05pm PDT
KFC Trinidad was slammed for the first
imagery, as some felt the artwork sought to profit from the struggles of racial
inequality being experienced across the world, but more so amplified in the
United States.
Others were not moved by the graphic as
they saw nothing wrong with the post, and called out those so offended to not
be hypocrites and eat from KFC.
More still, drew comparisons to what KFC’s
franchises in Jamaica and Guyana had done to celebrate the occasion, finding
those much more in tune with the nature of Emancipation Day and expressed their
disappointment in the Trinidad-based company for missing the mark.
What do you think, BUZZ fam?
