Upper West Side Whole Foods Forced to Remove Ad Featuring President Obama

Did they take it too far?

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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A Whole Foods on the Upper West Side has elected to remove a sign that displayed President Barack Obama in a chicken advertisement after a series of complaints. The sign outside of the store featured the president in an ad for a sale on organic chicken, and it pissed residents like Woody Henderson off.

"There are certain things that have been used to put down black people," Henderson said. Others had similar sentiments. Bronx dweller Jason Nunez said "Even if he's not the president, you're going to have an African-American promoting the sale of chicken? They can do better than that." 

In an attempt to quiet a potential PR nightmare, a Whole Foods spokesman said that artists for the store draw heavily on pop culture to create images for promotions. The sign featuring President Obama went up earlier this week, but was immediately taken down "once it was brought to [their] attention by a shopper that it may be perceived as offensive."

The spokesman added that "no disrespect meant at all."

[via NBC New York]

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