From Absa To H&M — 5 Epic Fails That Got Companies In Trouble With Tweeps

Absa learnt the hard way that Twitter can destroy a poorly thought-out campaign. But the bank is not alone.
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Absa

On Monday, Absa felt the wrath of Twitter when a poll it ran about black tax backfired. Absa apologised for any offence caused and said it was only trying to assist its clients, but many Twitter users saw the campaign as offensive.

Absa tweeted:

But Twitter was not impressed.

#BlackTax is Apartheid Banks of South Africa(ABSA) even having a banking license.

Rubbish👇 pic.twitter.com/GbmayD2F7U

— Oluwadarasimi. (@A_simple_Sfiso) June 12, 2018

The bank later apologised and said the poll tweet was supposed to include a link to a blog post where an expert on the subject was interviewed.

Sincere apologies - we understand how we have caused offence. Our poll was meant to include a link to our blog, where we interviewed an expert on the topic - we wanted to help. We failed. https://t.co/qgUvWFXgRY

— Absa (@Absa) June 12, 2018

Dove

In 2017, the cosmetics company withdrew an advert for

Dove apologizes for ad: We 'missed the mark' representing black women https://t.co/aZvOpSoMKWpic.twitter.com/znQknWN5vr

— CNN (@CNN) October 9, 2017

Dove's racist ad angers people, and they can't believe it actually happened in 2017:https://t.co/nRYe6n4nK8

— UberFacts (@UberFacts) January 12, 2018

If the theme was the "Jungle", why couldn't he be a Lion or a Tiger? Why was the black child picked as "The coolest MONKEY"? pic.twitter.com/SzMjnQDMDd

— leratokganyago (@leratokganyago) January 8, 2018

VIDEO: SAHRC met with H&M over controversial advert https://t.co/r0hpR0fMcnpic.twitter.com/NrcKafvqo3

— The_New_Age (@The_New_Age) January 20, 2018

Standard Bank

Standard Bank tried to jump on the MakeAWomanSmileIn3Words hashtag on Twitter by promoting its credit cards. Twitter users were quick to call the bank out for its sexism, as the tweet portrayed women as money-hungry gold-diggers.

#makeawomansmilein3words

Bank somewhere else.

— The Other Sarah Marshall (@cathjenkin) February 9, 2017

Snapchat

"You let us down! Shame on you!": @rihanna has some strong words for @Snapchat over an advert that asked people if they would rather slap her or punch Chris Brown https://t.co/M5y4SvuOO9pic.twitter.com/e9Ka0XGyw4

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