Obama’s likeness used to sell fried chicken in China
While President Barack Obama seeks the secret recipe for U.S. economic growth, a fast-food restaurant in China is inferring he’s already privy to Colonel Sanders’ secret for fried chicken.
The short arm of trademark law.
The Daily Mail and other media outlets report Obama Fried Chicken is using advertising very similar to that used by KFC, aka known as Kentucky Fried Chicken before the word “fried” became a marketing pariah.
The Beijing business sign allegedly contains the phrase ‘We’re so cool, aren’t we?’ in Chinese, but Google translate cannot confirm that for me.
The restaurant’s name may be a way for restaurateurs to decry a tariff on U.S. chicken exports that, according to the New York Times, forces importers in China to pay twice as much per bird.
The restaurant’s sign was first spotted by TheShanghaiist.com.
Mediaite.com writes that using Obama’s likeness to sell fried chicken could be considered “unacceptably racist,” but this isn’t the first time such a thing has happened.
The Daily Mail article has pictures of U.S. businesses using the exact same name in Brooklyn and Harlem.
And KFC itself used an Obama lookalike in a television commercial that ran in Hong Kong. In that clip, KFC even borrows a sentiment from Obama’s 2008 campain … “Change is good.”
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117 comments Add your comment
charles miller
October 3rd, 2011
3:19 pm
Enter your comments here
Just Wondering
October 3rd, 2011
3:21 pm
I was commenting specifically on how the word was used on several posts on this blog.
laydeeliberty
October 3rd, 2011
3:22 pm
okay – on topic (Sorry George)
China has no laws protecting trademarks or patents, their people have no rights and they are able to sell cheap items because they have no unions, no EPA restrictions, and nothing except their government to dictate what is allowed and what is not. It isn’t a picture of O, it’s just a likeness of him, so I seriously doubt there is any kind of legal retribution or action to be taken here. My guess is that they just equate him with fried chicken.
Contentment Blues
October 3rd, 2011
3:23 pm
those Chinese folks are gonna be pissed when they open an OFC fortune cookie after slobbing down a bucket of fried only to see there’s nothing in there.
Call it like it is
October 3rd, 2011
3:24 pm
“Contentment Blues” Man of course I have had better chicken, but we were talking fast food here. Theres this lady and son team in Alabama that has the best fried chicken in the world, and she serves them with greens, black eye peas and corn bread. Man thats some good stuff. She could put anybody’s face on her building and I would eat there. I would tell you where, but I’m not. My place ha!
Contentment Blues
October 3rd, 2011
3:28 pm
‘call it like it is’….. release the name of said chicken joint. That’s a low blow… hahah. Well played sir.
Roekest
October 3rd, 2011
3:30 pm
HA! First they clone our technology. Now they clone our worst fast food chicken chain. Downward spiral, me thinks!
SAWB
October 3rd, 2011
3:35 pm
Funny, some Asian Business owners put up a sign associating Obama with Fried Chicken and some of you say this proves White People are racist. This officially proves that the term racism means nothing anymore.
Tech'10
October 3rd, 2011
3:39 pm
Yes, Call it like it is, where is said chicken joint? Please!
The Chinese would have been better off cloning Popeyes.
Tech'10
October 3rd, 2011
3:40 pm
SAWB, I think you might be a racist for saying that the term racism doesn’t mean anything anymore. lolz…