A new Burger King ad featuring Mary J. Blige singing about fried chicken has been pulled by the fast food restaurant. The company said that the commercial was taken off the air because of music licensing issues, but because it had been criticized for being racist.
Burger King said that it hopes to have the ad back on the air soon after the licensing issues are resolved.
But Burger King may want to just get rid of the ad since several people have criticized the TV spot for being racist. Madame Noire, a lifestyle publication for black women, wrote an open letter to Burger King, saying :
“Having a black woman sing about chicken was no mistake. They’re trying to reach the ‘urban’ (aka black) demographic and they used you. Because God knows black folk won’t buy anything unless there’s a song, and preferably a dance, attached to it.”
Burger King, which recently fell behind Wendy’s as the second biggest burger chain, recently released a new menu. The Mary J. Blige commercial was used to promote Burger King’s new premium chicken strips. David Beckham, Salma Hayek, and Jay Leno have also created ads for the new menu.
Here’s Mary J. Blige’s Burger King ad.
If the video above doesn’t play, here’s another version from TMZ .
Do you think the ad is racist?
[Update: Burger King has released an apology for releasing an “unfinished” commercial. ]
