Talk about a #EpicFail. The pen company Bic South Africa released what they thought would be perceived as an empowering ad on its Facebook and Twitter pages earlier this week, in honor of the country’s National Women’s Day.
The ad, which has since been pulled, featured a woman in a business suit smiling confidently. The text on the ad read, “Look like a girl. Act like a lady. Think like a man. Work like a boss.”
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Ouch. The ad basically took the whole point of feminism — the idea that women and men are equal — and squashed it. What’s more, it blatantly suggests that women have no right being simply, well, women, if they want to succeed on virtually any level.
Both women and men were insulted by the ad, and took to Twitter to call out the company out on what has been dubbed its #BicFail.
One tweeter even asked if this ad wasn’t an attack on Bic by a competing company — that’s how egregiously offensive it was.
Bic yanked the ad down and issued the following apology on its Facebook page:
And one on its Twitter account:
When asked for a statement, Bic South Africa referred TODAY to the apology it issued on Twitter, adding that it had no further comment.
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The apology has been favorite and retweeted, indicating acceptance by some. But once you put something on the Internet, you can’t just make it go away, and Twitter is still ablaze with fiery attacks on Bic, with some people demanding that the PR firm and/or marketing agency that created the ad be fired.
Looks like this is one of those pen marks that the company wishes it could erase.