One drawback of today's overly vigilant politically correct society is that we no longer get to praise, worship or even have a little fun with famous dead white men from our nation's past who did atrocious things to minorities, women, etc.
Well, that is unless you're the President. Then you can do whatever you want.
Sonic has learned this lesson the hard way. Recently, the Oklahoma City-based company aired a commercial where one of their funny-in-2003 Sonic guys plays a character named General Custard – an obvious spoof of famed Indian killer and all-around bad dude General George Armstrong Custer.
Check it out:
That's nice. I can't wait to see what commercial they come up with for their new Super Spicy Six-Cheese Trail-Of-Tears Jalapeno burger!
Naturally, the commercial angered people in the Native American community who would rather not be reminded of the atrocities and massacres committed against their ancestors when watching a commercial that promotes a sugary, egg-based frozen treat. As a result, Sonic has pulled the ad and apologized.
Fast food chain Sonic Drive-In pulled its controversial ‘General Custard’ commercial less than a week after receiving a deluge of messages online about the ad’s insensitivity toward Native Americans.
Communications Manager, Jason Acock, told Indian Country Media Network they quickly realized “the humor obviously missed the mark” and have since pulled the commercial from circulation.
“(The ad was) extremely insensitive, and so we deeply are apologizing to our guests and thanking them for making us aware of our missteps,” Acock told ICMN by phone.
I know Sonic's marketing department is lazy and lacks creativity – something we pointed out when they brought the Sonic guys out of retirement in 2012 – but how did this even happen? They're a Oklahoma based business. I'm pretty sure you can see the Native American Cultural Center from the top floor of the Company's Bricktown headquarters. They should have known better than to use a notorious Indian killer as an advertising mascot for their custard.
