Hours after first appearing, Burger King pulled Mary J. Blige’s ad for their Crispy Chicken Snack Wraps off their YouTube channel. No word on why but there are a couple theories.
Gawker suggests the ad was perpetuating the stereotype of black people espousing their love of fried chicken while “award-winning campaign writer and producer” Thembisa S. Mshaka says Burger King gave Blige the Intense Black Person Syndrome or, as I’d like to call it, the Denzel Washington. Mshaka says BK made Blige look rude, terse and invasive. Not only that but they had her sell the unhealthiest item on the menu.
I disagree with both points. Fried chicken is so delicious that it transcends all race. Also, Blige didn’t seem rude, terse and invasive in that ad. She just looked like she was dialing it in. Like in the back of her mind she was wondering if pushing snack wraps at Burger King is what her life has become. The sunglasses she wore were probably to hide the salty tears.