Barbara Kay: KFC’s ‘hot shot bites’ ad campaign leaves me cold

Article here. Excerpt:

'In the commercial, a young man of somewhat nerdy appearance (medium height, a bit flabby, glasses) is holding out a cartoon of KFC hot shot bites to a very pretty young woman, who takes and eats one. Her eyes widen in amazement. The young man asks, “How’s it taste?” Instead of answering, the young woman bitch-slaps him and walks away. The baffled man is seen rubbing his face, while a voiceover says the hot shot bite is “like a slap to the face.” Ha ha.

But it isn’t just a slap to the face, is it? It’s a female slap to a male face. No business in the West would ever show a man slapping a woman in jest. We would be horrified if they did, and rightly so. Domestic violence is not something to be mocked or encouraged. But it is all the time in our culture.
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The marketers who exploit hot sauce for its comic potential hit the sweet spot, the point of inflection where a joke could become offensive but doesn’t. So far I haven’t seen one bottle called “Beat your Gal Black and Blue Hot Sauce.” In trying to expand its target market, KFC screwed up big time.
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Both men and women who think violence directed at anyone is not appropriate fodder for humour should send that message to KFC. And if KFC is a socially responsible company, they will withdraw the commercial from circulation.'