Obama KFC bucket sold in Japan
Spotted a earlier this month on display at a major chain of Japanese novelty stores (Exiciting Bookstore Village Vanguard):
It is a tissue holder shapped like a bucket of fried chicken. Colonel Sanders’ face has been replaced by a similarly-styled Barack Obama face.
According to Gizmoto, who considers the product to be racist, it is made by a company based in Hong Kong:
I’m really, REALLY not understanding why Brando, purveyor of all things strange and gadgety, is selling a tissue holder looking like a certain fried chicken bucket– WITH OBAMA’S FACE on it. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!
To top it off, the slightly stereotypical product has Obama dressed up like Colonel Sanders, and also features a coin bank for change. Sigh. Get it? One has to wonder whether or not they merely thought it was funny, or if they really just hate Black America. And for the record, a Popeye’s bucket (despite them frying up superior chicken) WOULD NOT have made it any better. Regardless, though…WTF!
Gizmoto’s link to the product page on Brando’s website no longer works, so I’m guessing they pulled it after somebody at the company realized it might offend some people.
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I think that if you have to think too hard about it for it to be racist, it probably isn’t. The Colonel was white, anyway.
And the change thing isn’t about race, is it?!
I definitely have to agree with Gizmoto about Popeye’s being superior, though!
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yeah i doubt this was intended to be racist. just another gimmick, nothing more. stupid? yes. racist? no.
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One of the reasons to avoid all sites Gawker (e.g. Gizmodo) is that they are kneejerk lefties who see a razist under every rock.
Looking at this chicken/change/tissue bucket, I can’t see anything razist about it. Chicken bucket = razism??!?!? WTF?
What a bunch of hysterical and paranoid weirdos they have working at Gawker.
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You say “lefty” as though it were a bad thing to be liberal. I’ll pretend your not crazy though and assume I’m just reading you wrong.
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Liberals want to hand the world away to overly protected criminals, because they have “rights” even while they’re raping and killing the citizens who just obey the law. So yeah, being “lefty” is bad and it is counter productive to any society operating correctly. The list of things that Lefty makes wrong and backward is endless, the fall of western civilization paramount among them, can all be attributed to Leftist thinking and it’s Euro-commie roots. So you’re an idiot and calling people crazy because they speak they truth harkens back to the Nazi Party methods Liberals are so fond of using. Attack the speaker and belittle them instead of facing the truth of the statement. Textbook Liberal.
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If the coin bank was shaped like a watermelon slice, I might take a bit more offense. Otherwise, I just chalk this up to the other goofy crap some of these Japanese manufacturers think up.
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These kind of stereotypes don’t exist in Japan, so it’s probably unintentional. Don’t worry about it.
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I’m a radical leftist, and even I don’t think this is racist. It has borderline unpleasant connotations, but not really any different than the way Japanese companies appropriate all sorts of Western images and recycles them through the crazy-blender (I’m looking at you, sexy Ronald McDonald).
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lololol! I have no real ideas to contribute to this thread. But this is definitely funny, in a tasteless sort of way. But, to be fair, Japanese people don’t really know of American stereotypes.
Or perhaps I am just naive. Probably naive, meh.
Black people like fried chicken. Is pointing out that fact racist? For crying out loud…
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Yes it is, because all kinds of people like chicken, or dislike chicken. It isn’t a consequence of skin colour.
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It’s not, don’t get your panties in a bunch. Jesus…
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It’s okay. I’m black myself and I can say with honesty that blacks DO love chicken. It’s not a stereotype, it’s fact. Of there are blacks who don’t like chicken, but the majority of people I see in my KFC are black.
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The Japanese are not burdened by white guilt and have absoulutly no use for negroes.
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What exactly is “white guilt”? Sounds like some absurd notion you just invented.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_guilt
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“I might apply for a job in Singapore. Because I’m really enjoying my life in a fried rice paradaice!!”
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Images of this will appear on a ditto-head/tea-bagger blog in ….5…4…3…2…
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If the producers of this product were aware of the cultural link between African-American people and fried chicken, then this could very well be considered racist, or at least stereotyping. However, if Obama himself was famous for eating fried chicken, then it would take on another dimension.
The pun on Obama’s catchphrase “Change”, and it being a coin bank is kind of clever.
Also, seeing the president of America dressed in a KFC uniform is funny, regardless of his colour, because it puts a person of extreme power into the unlikely position of fast-food chain employee. If only black people worked in fast-food chains this could be considered racist, as it might suggest black people are only suited for menial jobs. But I’m sure depending on location, all kinds of good people work (and eat) at KFC.
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When I use this holder, the tissues always get dirty somehow.
Now I understand why.
– ’cause it has become a great issue,
I mean…, a gray tissue.
Not funny? oh,sorry…don’t kick me.
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ahahahaha oh wow
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Yes we can…… market this image even further and in international circles as well! Also, is it racist when there’s photographic evidence to support such a combination?
Exhibit A:
http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2008/11/19/gal_obama_newyork_7.jpg
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Considering that Barack Obama has an almost cult-like following, I highly doubt this was done out of racial intent. I think the blogger who posted this is over reading this. This is not like Mr. Jamaes which was a painfully blatant attempt at nerdifying the image of white Americans.
Not that I could see how the conclusion with the whole sterotype that black people like fried chicken could have been drawn. Barack Obama overall has a positive image in Japan especially in Obama Japan. And I can also see how it could be portrayed that all black people work at fast food joints, but I don’t think that assumption could be made from this marketed item for his motif is Colonel Sanders, the franchise owner of the establishment. He isn’t wearing one of those dorky KFC hats nor does he have a frier.
I think it is more or non-intentional knowing what I do about Japanese/Chinese culture. Now the Black Samba dolls on the other hand is racist for sure.
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raicist? wtf? this race thing has become really absurd in the us.
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Quaker Oatmeal has a picture of a white guy on it, RACIST!!!
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