A Tory London Mayoral candidate has admitted a Home Office campaign to print anti-knife crime messages on fried chicken boxes was "culturally insensitive"
Controversy has raged on social media over the campaign.
More than 320,000 fried chicken boxes were distributed containing inspirational stories with the hashtag #knifefree.
The campaign was branded "stupid" and "borderline racist" by critics.
The packaging replaced those from 210 chicken shop outlets including the three biggest UK chicken: Morleys, Dixy Chicken and Chicken Cottage.
Morley’s managing director, Shan Selvendran, said: “Morley’s are proud to support the #knifefree campaign. We’ve been saddened by the recent increase in knife crime.”
Tory candidate Shaun Bailey, speaking at the Centre for Social Justice on violent crime, admitted the campaign was executed in a "culturally insensitive" way.
But he blamed civil servants for the execution of the plan, rather than Tory Home Secretary Priti Patel.
He said: “The Home Office are the terrible part of the civil service, they make hundreds of mistakes and continue to do that.”
But he pushed back against critics, adding: “A lot of people weren’t entirely hold of the facts when they complained about the chicken boxes.”
When the campaign was unveiled, Tottenham MP MP David Lammy said: "(the) government is pushing the stereotype that black people love fried chicken.
"This ridiculous stunt is either explicitly racist or, at best, unfathomably stupid.
He added: “Is this some kind of joke?! Why have you chosen chicken shops? What’s next, #KnifeFree watermelons?”
Shadow home secretary Dianne Abbot added on Twitter : "The Home Office would do better to invest in our communities not demonise them.”
