GSD&M Leak Accuses Popeyes Client of Racism; Places Agency in Lose-Lose Situation

Someone inside the creative staff at GSD&M Idea City appears to be determined to lose the Popeyes Chicken account by disavowing a campaign the agency created for the fast-food client (see video below). The move will likely enrage GSD&M’s management and further strain its relationship with creatives there.

The AgencySpy blog declared Popeyes new TV spots to be racist yesterday because they feature a character, “Annie the Chicken Queen,” who appears to hark back to sterotyped “mammie” imagery of yore. In response, an anonymous source sent this email to  the blog:

As an employee there, let me be very CLEAR when I say that he [ECD Mark Taylor] as well as all other creative directors, and pretty much the entire creative Dept. [sic] actually fought this campaign to the bitter end. In fact, as you wrote in an article a few weeks ago, The [sic] higher ups in the agency actually went behind the creative department’s back and hired a freelancer to do this. He is rumored to be pretty ethnically insensitive (but from the looks of his latest campaign that’s obvious). Overall, Mark Taylor and most of the agency agrees with your post, that the campaign is offensive and stereotypical, but that’s not what’s being implied in the article. That’s why I hope you do a follow up article to get the TRUTH out - That Mark Taylor and the creative department had nothing to do with this ( in fact, it’s that freelancer who’s producing it because the creative dept. wont be associated with it.)

Ignore, for a moment, the libel directed at the nameless freelancer. The message places GSD&M in a difficult position — the anonymous leaker essentially accuses one of the agency’s biggest clients of racism. If the intent was some sort of high-stakes gamble to persuade Popeyes to pull the campaign (thus re-establishing GSD&M’s strategic bona fides), then it will likely fail.

What the leaker omits from the message is that the client chose the campaign. Agencies present work; the client makes the decision. The leaked email seems to be written with the assumption that the agency has some sort of control over the client, when the opposite is the case.

The other thing that is missing from the flap is the uncomfortable question of whether this spot is actually racist or not. Popeyes sells fried chicken. A major part of its target market is black. It is trying to play up its Louisiana heritage. Is it unreasonable to pitch the food using a black woman with a Southern accent? Would an Obama-esque Rhodes scholar have been a better choice?

One problem in answering this question is that the sound quality on the video that AgencySpy is complaining about is so bad you can’t actually tell what the Annie character is saying. Here’s some of the script, according to Brandweek.

Get up off that floor … you heard me, sweetcakes…  I work my fanny off making this chicken perfect, and they practically give it away.

The absence of a pro-quality YouTube clip of this spot is somewhat conspicuous — GSD&M’s own site doesn’t include the spot as an example of its work. It uses an old one instead.

That old ad — for Popeyes’ Delta Minis — is interesting because it features an obese, barely articulate, white “bubba” character in a baseball cap, stuffing his face with chicken. There was, of course, no racism outcry when that spot aired.

Not everyone in the blogosphere is on board with AgencySpy’s political correctness campaign. Here’s Jossip:

Wait, rewind. What shucking and jiving? I totally missed that part of this tone-deaf but otherwise nondescript commercial.

Unfortunately, Popeyes CMO Dick Lynch (pictured) is the whitest-looking white guy ever to graduate business school in Wisconsin. His intent, however, seems harmless. Brandweek:

The character featured in the campaign is meant to highlight the brand’s personality, which is “honest, vibrant, youthful and authentic,” Popeyes CMO Dick Lynch said in a statement. “Everyone has a relative or a good friend who will give it to them straight, and that’s what Annie is all about,” he said.

“We wanted our spokesperson to be as genuine as our food,” Lynch said of the chain’s continued emphasis on using real people.

Here’s one possibility as to how this will all end up: The client will watch its sales. If they go up, expect to see Annie the Chicken Queen become a bigger part of your TV-watching life.

UPDATE: Here’s Popeyes’ statement:

The “Annie” character was created to express the pride, passion and authenticity that go into our carefully prepared, delicious Louisiana-style chicken. There have been various points of view on Annie, and we are taking these perspectives into consideration as we plan new iterations of the campaign with the goal of broadening her appeal.