5 ms·

KFC apologises after German Kristallnacht promotion

22 points by dmarchand90 4y ago

dmarchand90 4y ago
Case of poor automation practices gone awry.
- DemocracyFTW2 4y ago
  I'm sure a bit of machine learning and blockchain could have saved them from the gaffe. Or, you know, know what you do.
  - rideontime 4y ago
    Anything but involving a human in the process!
    - euroderf 4y ago
      Carbon-based processing is highly overrated!
bell-cot 4y ago
Wow. If I was running KFC, my next move would be to conspicuously violate employment laws (fair notice, accumulated vacation pay, etc.) in canning the responsible idiots. Let them sue for their rights, with the press watching. (Yeah, figuring out which of the scurrying finger-pointers and ass-coverers are actually responsible is usually a non-trivial problem.)
ohiovr 4y ago
Today I left McD's after a droid was going to take my order and now KFC does this.
vondur 4y ago
Wow, I thought this had to be a joke, but how the heck does someone screw something up so badly?
- bdcravens 4y ago
  Probably just a list of "holidays" in a database without context.
- tablespoon 4y ago
  > Wow, I thought this had to be a joke, but how the heck does someone screw something up so badly? Inadequate testing. In hindsight, they should have generated all the messages for a year, for every country, and then sent them to their marketing teams for each country for review.
  - netsharc 4y ago
    I wonder if they did this, and the person tasked with checking them just half-assed it and said "Yeah yeah, the list looks fine". Or if they didn't get enough education to know that this night is not a night for celebrating.
aatharuv 4y ago
This is what happens when the people responsible don't have basic cultural competence. Or possibly poorly written code. Or more likely poorly defined requirements handed from product management. There are holidays where it is appropriate to advertise food sales. And there are days of commemoration of tragedies where you just may be in mourning.
- Beltalowda 4y ago
  According to the article it was: > The fast food chain said the "automated push notification" was "linked to calendars that include national observances". Anyone with the slightest bit of foresight could have told you this was a completely idiotic idea to start with. Many countries have observances linked to deaths and tragedies. I guess KFC should be lucky they didn't advertise fried chicken on MLK day.
  - kelseyfrog 4y ago
    > I guess KFC should be lucky they didn't advertise fried chicken on MLK day. There was the 2020 Emancipation Day in Trinidad and Tobago gaff which included references to BML. KFC's statement ends with "we are reviewing the approval process of all our communications to avoid situations like this reoccurring," which apparently did not work. https://sentientmedia.org/kfc-black-power-drumstick/ https://sentientmedia.org/kfc-black-power-drumstick/
factsarelolz 4y ago
Probably some automated script. "It's $typeofobservance day for $holiday! Treat yourself with more tender cheese on your crispy chicken. Now at KFCheese!" The increase in antisemitism is the news is intriguing.
doodpants 4y ago
"In a statement issued to Newsweek magazine, KFC Germany blamed the message on a bot." Blaming a bot is always a cop-out. It should be blamed on whoever made the decision to deploy a bot in the first place.
- nh23423fefe 4y ago
  Or, a notification doesn't matter and blame is pointless.

22 points by dmarchand90 4y ago

dmarchand90 4y ago

Case of poor automation practices gone awry.

DemocracyFTW2 4y ago
I'm sure a bit of machine learning and blockchain could have saved them from the gaffe. Or, you know, know what you do.
- rideontime 4y ago
  Anything but involving a human in the process!
  - euroderf 4y ago
    Carbon-based processing is highly overrated!

bell-cot 4y ago

Wow. If I was running KFC, my next move would be to conspicuously violate employment laws (fair notice, accumulated vacation pay, etc.) in canning the responsible idiots. Let them sue for their rights, with the press watching. (Yeah, figuring out which of the scurrying finger-pointers and ass-coverers are actually responsible is usually a non-trivial problem.)

ohiovr 4y ago

Today I left McD's after a droid was going to take my order and now KFC does this.

vondur 4y ago

Wow, I thought this had to be a joke, but how the heck does someone screw something up so badly?

bdcravens 4y ago
Probably just a list of "holidays" in a database without context.
tablespoon 4y ago
> Wow, I thought this had to be a joke, but how the heck does someone screw something up so badly? Inadequate testing. In hindsight, they should have generated all the messages for a year, for every country, and then sent them to their marketing teams for each country for review.
- netsharc 4y ago
  I wonder if they did this, and the person tasked with checking them just half-assed it and said "Yeah yeah, the list looks fine". Or if they didn't get enough education to know that this night is not a night for celebrating.

aatharuv 4y ago

This is what happens when the people responsible don't have basic cultural competence. Or possibly poorly written code. Or more likely poorly defined requirements handed from product management. There are holidays where it is appropriate to advertise food sales. And there are days of commemoration of tragedies where you just may be in mourning.

Beltalowda 4y ago
According to the article it was: > The fast food chain said the "automated push notification" was "linked to calendars that include national observances". Anyone with the slightest bit of foresight could have told you this was a completely idiotic idea to start with. Many countries have observances linked to deaths and tragedies. I guess KFC should be lucky they didn't advertise fried chicken on MLK day.
- kelseyfrog 4y ago
  > I guess KFC should be lucky they didn't advertise fried chicken on MLK day. There was the 2020 Emancipation Day in Trinidad and Tobago gaff which included references to BML. KFC's statement ends with "we are reviewing the approval process of all our communications to avoid situations like this reoccurring," which apparently did not work. https://sentientmedia.org/kfc-black-power-drumstick/ https://sentientmedia.org/kfc-black-power-drumstick/

factsarelolz 4y ago

Probably some automated script. "It's $typeofobservance day for $holiday! Treat yourself with more tender cheese on your crispy chicken. Now at KFCheese!" The increase in antisemitism is the news is intriguing.

doodpants 4y ago

"In a statement issued to Newsweek magazine, KFC Germany blamed the message on a bot." Blaming a bot is always a cop-out. It should be blamed on whoever made the decision to deploy a bot in the first place.

nh23423fefe 4y ago
Or, a notification doesn't matter and blame is pointless.