‘¡El Pollo de Pollos!’ is what they call it apparently, while using Afro-Latino Ray Barretto (American percussionist and bandleader of Puerto Rican descent) for the start of the KFC’s 1988 chicken AD. The definition of stereotype is written all over and motivation to bring this to your attention is needed to show and ask “Why Latin/African community? Why not any other community?” Reason why you should pay attention to what I’m going to explain to you is because you will see how the Latin/African community gets pointed out when it comes to the various types of food the “public” thinks we like to eat all the time. My first claim I will bring up why Ray Barretto for the KFC AD, my second claim will be about where this stereotype came from, and my final claim will be about Advertising Latinos/Latinas. My goal in this paper is to bring the discussion from these articles and my three claims to show the reason behind the racist stereotype in KFC’s chicken AD with Ray Barretto.

Ray Barretto & KFC

KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) decided to make an AD with American percussionist and bandleader of Puerto Rican descent Ray Barretto. You would think KFC would use Barretto to spark some interest in the chicken loving community and or maybe because of what famous superstar they use in their AD. That’s not the case here. Barretto was not just any Afro-Latino but a light skinned one.

Ray Barretto | Salsa music, Latin music (Source)

KFC would’ve thought maybe because of Barretto’s skin color (and not worried about the culture) they can make the AD seem good. This became and also for me a racist stereotypical thing to do knowing this would wake up both the Latin and African community. In Racist stereotypes in Spanish language/Latino/a media by Arlene Davila, the article it says:

“Most stereotypes of anti-blackness and anti-indigeneity have developed global and local manifestations across the Americas, that are also often reproduced in Hispanic and Latino/a media and advertising. These stereotypes include casting Afro-Latino/a celebrities in urban theme ads, casting Indo-Latino/as in public information ads and, in the world of commercial goods, tying aspirational goods to white and light-skinned Latino/a actors.” (Davila)

This explains how the stereotype is trying to tie in white and light skinned latino/a to advertise commercial goods without thinking the public would point out the real reason behind the Ads and forgetting where certain stereotypes come from. (Davila 2011)

Where Chicken Stereotype Came From

You might ask “Where did the chicken stereotype come from?” Well Gene Demby, a Co-host/Correspondent, Code Switch from NPR (National Public Radio) caught my attention to know where exactly the whole chicken stereotype came from. In the article ‘Where Did That Fried Chicken Stereotype Come From?’ Demby asked a Professor named Claire Schmidt who works at University of Missouri and studies race and folklore, about the stereotype around chicken. Professor Schmidt explains:

“Chickens had long been a part of Southern diets, but they had particular utility for slaves. They were cheap, easy to feed and a good source of meat.”

Saying the source of meat was good but cheap meant they didn’t have to worry about giving slaves what the owners were eating. Professor Schmidt also explains:

“It’s a food you eat with your hands, and therefore it’s dirty,”. “Table manners are a way of determining who is worthy of respect or not.”

Bringing us back to Ray Barretto’s KFC Ad while holding a chicken in his hand would consider him “dirty” and “no manners’ ‘ when having chicken. A perfect reason why whites looked at people of color differently when it came to stereotyping them around chicken and Dave Chappelle said it best:

“The only reason these things are even an issue is because nobody knows what white people eat,” Chappelle said.

Even if it sounds joking or not from Chappelle, really think about how food was made and eaten in the early 1900s. (Demby 2013)

Advertising Latinos/Latinas

Latin marketing was mentioned to be a multibillion dollar industry especially due to the Latin community being large in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and almost in every other large city.  The industry takes advantage of the fact they can throw any Latino or Latina into an Ad and have it grab the attention of the Latin population around these large cities to make millions back.

“As the Latino population in the United States continues to rise the Hispanic marketing industry is poised for even larger gains, and even greater relevancy on the national stage. With an increasingly large target audience of Latinos, marketers have produced ads for products across a multitude of categories using a number of different images and representations.”

My question to them is why stereotype and not have any latin citizen be on any type of Ad whether its a business or even a simple toothpaste Ad? This is when the industry gets back lashed by the people and has to then take it down. Now I don’t believe in cancel culture but I do believe in leaving these types of companies in the dark and being punished for what they have done, show the Latin/African community more Respect, and give back to us for their racist stereotypes that should have never been. (Rodriguez 2015)

Conclusion

Based on these Articles that were mentioned in each claim whether it came to a famous Latino holding chicken for a KFC Ad, Stereotyping Latin/African because of how chicken is looked at when it comes to that community eating it, and just advertising Latin to catch attention to that specific community because of the gain, these Ads should not be ok in the first place. There should be an approval from the community and not just what the marketing industry wants. As I see it though we would have to continue to fight and seek out any Ads that continue to stereotype the Latin and African for gain because if it was the other way around we would be shut down in a heartbeat.

Work Cited

Davila, Arlene. 2011. “Ray Barretto.” Race and Ethnicity. https://raceandethnicity.org/exhibits/show/racist-stereotypes-in-spanish-w/racist-stereotypes-in-spanish-.

Demby, Gene. 2013. “Where Did That Fried Chicken Stereotype Come From?” NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/05/22/186087397/where-did-that-fried-chicken-stereotype-come-from.

Rodriguez, James. 2015. “Latinos and Advertising.” Race and Ethnicity. https://raceandethnicity.org/exhibits/show/latinos-and-advertising.

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