By nickjohnson - September 2nd, 2013
If you haven’t seen it yet, have a look at Dunkin’ Donuts Thailand’s new ad for their ‘charcoal’ donut.
Yes, that's a model in ‘blackface’ (the CEO’s daughter, actually) holding up a black donut.
Their CEO is unrepentant - “We’re not allowed to use black to promote our donuts? I don’t get it. What’s the big fuss?”, yet their US arm disagrees, apologizing for insensitivity and promising to remove the ad.
Leaving aside the somewhat controversial question of whether this reflects a cultural difference between the USA and Thailand (or whether it’s the actions of a company led by an idiot), this still highlights a risk for companies. Your global franchises still have your brand. You make a mistake in Thailand, it catches up to you in the USA.