Darsa Fried Chicken apologises for racist comments as brand sentiments plummet

Local fast food brand Darsa Fried Chicken has seen its brand sentiments plummet following a recent blunder where it used the phrase ‘type C’ in response to a customer’s comment on social media. ‘Type C’ is a derogatory phrase used to refer to the Chinese community.

Darsa Fried Chicken then acknowledged and apologised for the incident and said that the restaurant welcomes all visitors from various walks of life regardless of race or religion.

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It said that it was an unintended mistake and said that it will not answer any issues moving forward outside of matters that do not involve other parties to prevent repeated mistakes. 

Following the racist incident, online conversations surrounding Darsa Fried Chicken were 1.7% positive and 80.1% negative according to media intelligence firm Carma. In fact, the brand saw a spike of 1200 mentions on 6 May when the comment was made.

The keywords associated with the brand include “racial” and “gloomy”.

Following its apology, online conversation sentiments about Darsa Fried Chicken shifted to 25.5% positive & 52.1% negative and the brand became associated to key words such as "mistake" and "apologised". 

Despite the apology, netizens were unsatisfied with Darsa Fried Chicken’s response with one saying that the restaurant is playing the victim and asked for a proper media statement instead of a normal Facebook post.

The Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) also reported the alleged use of racist words in the social media comment and have urged the police to intervene in the investigation and take action against those involved, according to a statement by the MCA.

"The comments made by the editor of DFC's Facebook are racist, which not only provokes racial sensitivity, but also causes unease in the Chinese community,” said the statement.

In Darsa Fried Chicken’s latest response, the brand put out a formal media statement from its managing director addressing the situation.

Mohammad Faiz Zuhdi Bin Azahar, managing director of Darsa Fried Chicken apologised once again and reiterated that it will be sensitive and careful when responding to users moving forward. 

While the brand addresses its racial comment issue, it has been placed in the hot seat on social media again regarding multiple spelling errors in the English words of its menu.

Facebook user Joe Najib posted a picture of the brand’s menu where the word ‘coleslaw’ was misspelled as ‘coleslow’, ‘sauce’ was spelled as ‘sos’ and ‘potato’ was spelled ‘patato’.

Najib said that the brand should have proofread the menu before printing and that the brand needs to increase its readiness in terms of its product positioning and communication to compete with more experienced and recognised brands.

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