The KFC Straw Man

The "Straw Man Principle" is an argumentative technique whereby a person's contention is misrepresented as a different contention and then that misrepresentation is argued down.  It is, of course, invalid as arguments go.  When you do a logic or critical reasoning course it will be one of the first invalid arguments pointed out to you (there are many others).

It's quite a cowardly technique as it enables the arguer to substitute any old contention for what the proposer is saying, then argue that down.  This is usually twenty times easier than a proper argument because you can substitute anything you want for what was actually being said.  Rather than doing your job and actually attacking your opponent's contentions, you can substitute anything you like and then have a go at that instead.

The KFC Windies Ad being racist is a prime example.  It was actually withdrawn from use on 7 January 2010 after some culturally unaware Americans came in hard, claiming it was offensive to African Americans, portraying the stereotype that to shut them up all you need do is give them fried chicken.

This is the classic Staw Man argument, completely misrepresenting the intention of the ad.  Firstly the black guys were actually West Indian cricket fans, not African Americans.  The claims were that they were behaving in a rowdy manner which is a stereotype offensive to African Americans (they are actually behaving as typical West Indian cricket fans do behave), and that the white guy is calm, again an offensive stereotype of white people (more like trying to keep his head down while being outnumbered by a bunch of supporters of the other team).  He then calms them down by giving them fried chicken just like the Yankees in the South used to do to their slaves (he really gives them some tasty distraction, a product supplied by their team's sponsor - KFC).

Sigh.

There have been quite a few claims by Americans that Aussies are fooling themselves that they cannot see the racism in the ad.  If the ad had in fact represented what they claim is being presented then they would have a case.  However they have setup a classic Straw Man and proceded to attack that instead.

There's no way the ad is racist and for KFC to pull it from transmission is to simply give these people more credence than they deserve.  I am calling for its return to the airwaves for when the West Indies return for the limited overs matches in February.  Allowing them to use the Straw Man technique to get the ad pulled is rewarding their use of an invalid argument, and that is just so unfair.

I suppose the benefit to KFC is that the ad has gone viral and the coverage achieved is probably well beyond their wildest dreams.  Artistically the ad is not particularly brilliant, but it has achieved the recognition of millions more people than KFC would have originally anticipated.