Did you know that people still made TV commercials? Yeah, me neither. Considering that most people just watch online or DVR straight through the ads, I kinda figured that those went the way of silent and drive-in movies. But apparently not, because Burger King decided to release a new ad (meh) featuring Mary J. Blige (ooohhh!) singing about crispy fried chicken (WHAT?). So after the web collectively watched the spot and went ‘ummm … that’s kind of racist,’ BK has pulled the ad, claiming it was unfinished. What, were they planning on throwing more racially questionable filler in the ad? Via Huffington Post:
The clip featured Mary J. Blige soulfully singing about the fast-food chain’s new chicken snack wraps. It immediately went viral when it was released Monday, and some in the black community said it was stereotypical. Burger King pulled the ad Tuesday over what the company said was a music licensing issue. The company explained Wednesday the spot was unfinished. In a statement, Blige said she understood why fans were upset. She said the ad didn’t come across the way it was planned and she would never put out an unfinished spot. Burger King said it was released prematurely and they hope to have the final ad on the air soon.
So they still have no idea why some people might see it as just a smidge racist that they took one of the most talented and successful black women in music today and made her sing about fried chicken? That’s just either supremely dense or they’re trying to back out of this as fast as they can. To put this into perspective, imagine if they made Salma Hayek rap about burritos, or Sandra Oh mix up her L’s and R’s. I don’t think they were trying to be racist, but I do think that they wasted MJB’s talent on stupidity.