KFC Posts AI Dreadlock Chicken Ad

KFC Antigua is facing backlash for trivialising or exploiting Rastafarian imagery for commercial gain.

At 2:04 pm on Tuesday KFC’s official account with 61 million followers posted on Facebook: “Everybody in Antigua is talking about Rastaman. …but no, KFC Antigua lovers “Seasoned Fries.”

The beloved fast-food brand then followed up 2 hours later and posted an AI-generated fried chicken leg with stylised dreadlocks, captioned:

“Antigua listen, since you insist this is the closest thing you will get to a Rastaman from us. An ai dreadloc ‘Original’ chicken leg, fried in virtual cooking ‘oil’ over a digital ‘wood’ fire. No ‘strawberry’ this round. So hold that! #KFCAntigua”

Local social media users found the humor in the post, but elsewhere it sparked debate over cultural sensitivity and the casual use of dreadlocks — for entertainment. Viewers argued that reducing a sacred cultural marker to a novelty visual crossed a line.

This controversy follows a similar backlash in Jamaica, where KFC released a social-media ad featuring a dreadlocked man struggling to resist the chain’s “Big Deal” meal. The caption read:

“When it’s the Big Deal, we get it … it’s hard to resist. What would you do for that perfect bite?”

While playful, the ad ignited accusations of cultural misrepresentation, particularly from members of the Rastafari community who are practicing vegans largely known to grown upon meat eating in reggae songs.

Rastafarian scholar Dr. Michael Barnett sharply criticized the Jamaican campaign, saying the commercial “completely misses the mark” and trivializes a culture that has historically faced ridicule and misrepresentation. He emphasized that Rastafarians generally do not patronize fast-food chains, given their ital lifestyle centered on natural, unprocessed foods. For that reason, he argued, the ad implicitly suggesting Rastafarian endorsement was misleading.

Barnett said the imagery reinforces a long history of stereotyping:

• the “rent-a-dread” trope in tourism
• fake locs sold to visitors
• comedic portrayals positioning Rastas as punchlines
• disrespectful jokes like “hide the pork in the food”

He also questioned whether the model in the ad was even Rastafarian, believing the brand “probably just found someone with dreadlocks” to fit the look.