7578: You Say Potato, I Say Racism.

The story below reports that Denny’s managed to offend Irish Americans with a commercial hyping pancakes and fries by marking the 150th anniversary of Ireland’s potato famine. The restaurant pulled the campaign with an apology/explanation that included, “Denny’s has a history of using humor in its television advertising.” That’s true. But Denny’s also has a history of displaying cultural cluelessness in its television advertising, discrimination in its employment practices and outright racism in its customer relations. Although the restaurant chain does have nifty website dedicated to diversity.

Fighting Irish Protest Denny’s Potato Famine Ad

A recent Denny’s television advertisement, offering unlimited pancakes and fries to mark the 150th anniversary of Ireland’s potato famine, has provoked the unexpected ire of Irish-Americans across the internet.

The ad, which ran in late February and has since disappeared online, touted unlimited starchy treats to customers in celebration of the Great Hunger’s end. The potato blight that caused the famine in the late 1840s resulted in the death of one million and the emigration of another two million, mainly to Boston’s South End.

Just days after the ad first aired, a “Boycott Denny’s” Facebook page appeared, demanding an official apology from the chain. We tracked down the campaign’s leader to see what the fuss is all about.

“They were poking fun at a tragedy that took millions of lives,” says Sarah Conaghan, who administers the Facebook page.

It’s not the first time the “Moons Over My Hammy”–slinging restaurants have run afoul of rights groups, but it is apparently the only instance of name-checking mass starvation to sell fries to stoners at 1 a.m.

Denny’s quickly pulled the spots and issued a statement saying, in part, “Denny’s has a history of using humor in its television advertising,” and that it had no intention to offend.

But Conaghan called the response: “Generic, very insincere.”

The Facebook page continues to add fans and encourages fellow Hibernians to lodge complaints directly by calling a Denny’s 1-800 number. Conaghan says a good old fashioned street protest is not out of the question.

“Our goal is to get the apology now, but by St. Patrick’s Day would be a nice gesture,” she said.