The German branch of Kentucky Fried Chicken on Wednesday apologized for an advertising notification the company sent out offering its customers to treat themselves to some crispy chicken with cheese to commemorate Kristallnacht.
On the day of the anniversary of the 1938 “Reichspogromnacht” – or Kristallnacht – when the Nazi regime burned down Jewish-owned stores and synagogues and deported thousands of Jews, customers using KFC’s app in Germany received a push notification on the display of their mobile phones, which read: “Memorial Day of the Reichspogromnacht: Treat yourself to more tender cheese with the crispy chicken. Now at KFCheese!”
Less than an hour later, the fast food chain pushed another notification to apologize for what it described as a technical mistake.
“Due to an error in our system, we sent an incorrect and inappropriate message through our app,” KFC wrote according to the push notification. “Internal processes will be checked immediately so that this does not happen again.”
The push notifications quickly elicited a storm of angry responses on social media and from Jewish organizations.
Dalia Grinfeld, associate director of European affairs at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), expressed puzzlement at the notification, tweeting: “How wrong can you actually be on Kristallnacht? Shame on you!”
