Bic pens apologises for Women’s Day ‘think like a man’ social media ad
‘Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a boss,’ was the sentiment issued on Sunday by Bic Pen’s South African Twitter account for #WomensDay.
Unsurprisingly, the company faced a backlash on social media with the seemingly innocuous brand receiving a barrage of criticism for the marketing material which stated that women have to ‘think like a man’ to get by in the business world.
After utterly backfiring on every level, the offending tweets and Facebook posts were deleted by Bic - but not before screenshots were taken.
Enjoy the free publicity, Bic. pic.twitter.com/mexxJVLKOF
— Rupert Myers (@RupertMyers) August 11, 2015
As a result, Bic apologised for the campaign.
Hi everyone. Let’s start out by saying we’re incredibly sorry for offending everybody - that was never our intention,...
Posted by Bic South Africa on Tuesday, 11 August 2015
The response was unanimously hostile (read the screenshot below or browse through the Facebook embed above).
And unsurprisingly, the whole incident was mocked by photoshop savvy protestors.
That sexist Bic ad is applicable to the career of Christopher Biggins and literally nobody else. pic.twitter.com/nuSkvgkZap
— Ms Slide (@sliderulesyou) August 11, 2015
I tried to make that Bic advert a bit more relatable pic.twitter.com/d0YLcdqxXM
— TechnicallyRon (@TechnicallyRon) August 11, 2015
I feel like #Bic could've just really gone for it with #womensday pic.twitter.com/ddGdhVNS76
— Manfeels Park (@ManfeelsPark) August 11, 2015
I suppose we're just disappointed in BIC because they made specific pens for women -_- pic.twitter.com/Lu55ONtVc3
— Tauriq Moosa (@tauriqmoosa) August 11, 2015
The road to social media hell is paved with #BIC intentions. pic.twitter.com/Psm5nZCXvW
— Brownsugar ن (@UrsulaChikane) August 11, 2015