Perhaps it isn’t the best idea to let the AI control all the promotional push messages at a large company? Or is it just easier to blame a bot for what was obviously a huge failure?

Yesterday was the anniversary of Kristallnacht, which in English is commonly translated into “The Night of Broken Glass.” November 9, 1938 was one of those seminal moments in Nazi Germany. It was a full-scale, government run pogrom against the Jews in Germany and other Nazi-occupied areas.

The pretext for the pogroms was the shooting in Paris on November 7 of the German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by a Polish-Jewish student, Herschel Grynszpan. News of Rath’s death on November 9 reached Adolf Hitler in Munich, Germany, where he was celebrating the anniversary of the abortive 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. There, Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels, after conferring with Hitler, harangued a gathering of old storm troopers, urging violent reprisals staged to appear as “spontaneous demonstrations.” Telephone orders from Munich triggered pogroms throughout Germany, which then included Austria.”

Just before midnight on November 9, Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller sent a telegram to all police units informing them that “in shortest order, actions against Jews and especially their synagogues will take place in all of Germany. These are not to be interfered with.” Rather, the police were to arrest the victims. Fire companies stood by synagogues in flames with explicit instructions to let the buildings burn. They were to intervene only if a fire threatened adjacent “Aryan” properties.”

In two days and nights, more than 1,000 synagogues were burned or otherwise damaged. Rioters ransacked and looted about 7,500 Jewish businesses, killed at least 91 Jews, and vandalized Jewish hospitals, homes, schools, and cemeteries. The attackers were often neighbours. Some 30,000 Jewish males aged 16 to 60 were arrested. To accommodate so many new prisoners, the concentration camps at Dachau, Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen were expanded.”

The anniversary of Kristallnacht is meant to be a sad and somber moment. But for KFC Germany, it was a chance to advertise for their cheesy chicken.

Wie daneben kann man eigentlich sein an #Reichspogromnacht, @KFCDeutschland (@kfc )?! Schämt euch! https://t.co/nJvE15Nn0X

— Dalia Grinfeld (@DaliaGrinfeld) November 9, 2022

“Commemoration of the Reichspogromnacht (the German name for Kristallnacht) – Treat yourself to more tender cheese with the crispy chicken. Now at KFCheese!” read the push notification sent to customers’ phones.”

And while the English-speaking world generally refers to the event as “Kristallnacht,” Germany calls it “Reichspogromnacht.”

Pogrom is right there in the word, KFC!!

— Liam Stack (@liamstack) November 10, 2022

KFC Germany reportedly sent out an apology once they realized what the push notification had said.

Around an hour later another message was sent with an apology, according to the Bild newspaper.”

“We are very sorry, we will check our internal processes immediately so that this does not happen again. Please excuse this error,” the message is reported to have said.”

How does a company apologize and explain a colossal f**k up like this one? Blame the bots, of course!

In a statement issued to Newsweek magazine, KFC Germany blamed the message on a bot.”

The fast food chain said the “automated push notification” was “linked to calendars that include national observances”.

It added that it “sincerely” apologised for the “unplanned, insensitive and unacceptable message” and said app communications had been suspended while an examination of them takes place.”

“We understand and respect the gravity and history of this day, and remain committed to equity, inclusion and belonging for all,” the company finished by saying.”

So, nobody at KFC Germany bothers checking the messages before they go out? And they just let the bots link to calendars for every single holiday and days of observance out there? And this has NEVER happened before? Which leads one to ask the question – was this human error? After all, commemoration for Kristallnacht has been going on a lot longer than the bots have had control of push notifications for KFC Germany. Holocaust education is not exactly a top priority in the Western world these days, and we have already seen examples of how idiots have tried to commercialize 9/11 in the past. I’m more inclined to apply Hanlon’s Razor in this case and chalk it up to stupidity over malice. Did some dummy who helps run the KFC Germany advertising look at the calendar that notes random holidays like “British Pudding Day” and “World Adoption Day” (yes, these were both “holidays” from November 9th) and say, “Hey, here’s a German commemoration for ‘Reichspogromnacht’ – not totally sure what that was, but let’s push the cheesy chicken with it!” There’s no way that anyone can convince me that this is not more probable than “the bots did it.”

Regardless, KFC Germany has blamed the bots, and issued their apologies. I wonder if their “tender cheese” goes well with crow?

Featured image: KFC located in Germany via PantheraLeo1359531 on Wikimedia Commons, cropped, Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)