Snapchat has been in hot water for quite some time now. In the past couple of months, it has managed to go from stellar to a decent app at best. Now, there is no question that it is a successful app with millions upon millions of users, but they are treading in murky water with their latest actions and the new changes they have made in the past couple of months.
Now, they are in more trouble for their recent ad involving pop superstar Rihanna. The incident can surely hurt their bottom line and it already has. Here is what happened.
The incident
According to Maxim, Snapchat posted an offensive ad with a game called "Would You Rather." The game had a choice to pick whether you would rather slap Rihanna or punch Chris Brown.
CNBC lists that the advertisement was not produced by Snapchat, but it had to go through a review process to get passed, and it ultimately did.
Is it just me, or is this ad that popped up on my Snapchat extremely tone deaf? Like what were they thinking with this? pic.twitter.com/7kP9RHcgNG
— Royce Mann (@TheRoyceMann) March 12, 2018
The company was criticized recently for an update, making it harder to navigate and use as a result. Many were displeased by the change and switched to Instagram instead, which offers some of the same features, like stories.
Rihanna reacts
Rihanna was disgusted by the advertisement and responded on Instagram as a result. The pop star asked her "60 million followers to delete the messaging app after screenshots of a tone-deaf ad prodding Snapchat users to choose between slapping the Barbadian singer or punching Chris Brown went viral." Many know that Rihanna was in an abusive relationship with Chris Brown back in 2009.
According to Maxim, Rihanna posted on Instagram, stating, "Now, Snapchat I know you already know ain't my fave app out there! But I'm just trying to figure out what the point was with this mess!"
@Rihanna said it best. I don’t even know how this is okay. Snapchat should just go back to no pointless articles on their app, just a waste of time and space. pic.twitter.com/RTxdR95hTE
— Khaleesi 🐉 (@bluntedbekah) March 15, 2018
Kylie Jenner chimed in recently as well.
Snapchat ended up losing users and revenue from this tweet Jenner posted back in February. She also made headlines recently over the birth of her baby with rapper Travis Scott.
sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me... ugh this is so sad.
— Kylie Jenner (@KylieJenner) February 21, 2018
Rihanna said delete Snapchat so guess what I’m doing!!! #Navy
— Joe Budden (@JoeBudden) March 15, 2018
Rapper Joe Budden and many others are supporting the Grammy award-winning artist.
End result
Snapchat is going to lose a lot of revenue and users as a result of this. According to Maxim, "Snap's shares subsequently plunged five percent, knocking $600 million off the company's market value." The brand has apologized for their actions. As of right now, however, the general consensus seems to be to ditch Snapchat in favor of Instagram instead.
What dos you think about this latest controversy? How do you think it will affect the company?
