50ft billboard in Wales of Kim Jong-un eating bowl of food with slogan ‘Ahhh, Soul!’ to be torn down after race row

A 50-FOOT billboard showing Kim Jong-un eating with the slogan 'Ahhh, Soul!' will be torn down after a race row.

The huge advert - which appeared in Newport Road, Cardiff, earlier this week - is to be taken down after passers-by labelled it 'racist'.

It shows the North Korean dictator smiling broadly and eating a meal using chopsticks.

Its catchline appears to be based on the words 'Ah, so', from Japanese term 'ā sō', used in conversation to show understanding.

The phrase is now often used to stereotype an east Asian accent.

Now the Soulful Food Company, which paid for the ad, has issued an apology to anyone offended.

The London-based vegan food business say all billboards featuring the image will be removed.

It comes after people took to social media to complain, reports.

One said: "I just want to know why Soulful Food Co thought such a racist ad would be a good idea in November 2020."

Another said: "How did it get to this point that NO ONE on your team recognised that this was racist?

"Do you have any non-white people on it and what positions do they hold?

"Absolutely ridiculous."

And a third wrote to the company to say: "Still finding it incredibly hard to wrap my head around how it got to print in the first place.

"You definitely need to make changes in your marketing team to include more people of colour to ensure this doesn't ever happen again."

But not everyone hated the ad - and one Twitter user called it "the best bit of advertising ever", adding: "I personally think it is brilliant and brightened up my day."

Others described it as "hilarious", while one Welsh social media fan said: "Don't take them down - the one in Cardiff, local to me, has made me smile every day."

The company is also behind billboards bearing Donald Trump holding a plate of food and a fork with the slogan: "Mexicans. I love 'em."

Bosses at the business haven't faced complaints for their Trump design.

A spokesman for the company said: "We’re really sorry we’ve caused offence and realise we have made a misjudgement with this advert.

"Our intention was to highlight the world needs more soul right now, but we got the message wrong.

"We will be taking them down as soon as possible."