Snapchat may need to have a major rethink of their approval process.
It was just yesterday that we wrote about the racist N word gif that was popping up on Snapchat through their partnership with Giphy, now people are sharing an advert that asks; ‘Would you rather slap Rihanna or punch Chris Brown?’
Ermmmm what?
The advert appeared over the weekend as an advert for a ‘Would You Rather’ game, apparently they couldn’t find other examples.
Most people will know that Rihanna and Chris Brown went to court over domestic assault in 2009, which makes this advert even more misguided.
A Snapchat spokesperson has said: ‘The ad was reviewed and approved in error, as it violates our advertising guidelines. We immediately removed the ad last weekend, once we became aware. We are sorry that this happened.'
For those who think it may have been an honest mistake, here’s something to think about. Activist Brittany Packnett pointed out that all social media ads go through an approval process, and Snapchat is no exception. ‘This means @Snapchat approved an ad that makes light of domestic violence,’ she tweeted. ‘The update ain’t the only thing that’s wack over there, friends.’
Packnett got thousands of retweets and likes, and a comment from Chelsea Clinton who said: ‘Just awful. Awful that anyone thinks this is funny. Awful that anyone thinks this is appropriate. Awful that any company would approve this. Thank you Brittany for calling this out.’
Snapchat isn’t having a good start to the year at all, after Kylie Jenner tweeted that she rarely opens the app anymore the social media app lost $1 billion in value, according to Fortune.
It probably doesn’t help that Instagram keeps stealing Snapchat’s features with literally no shame at all – Instagram stories is literally the same as Snapchat, but better because you can save you stories into categorised highlights, and most people already have an Instagram following to build on.
Maybe undoing the Snapchat update that makes it impossible to find anyone’s snaps might make Snapchat more popular?
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.