Clorox tries to wash away emoji tweet
On the day Apple updated its set of texting symbols to include diverse faces, Clorox posted a tweet asking, ‘Where’s the bleach?’
Brand social media managers got by without committing faux pas about Wednesday’s guilty verdicts in the Boston Marathon bombing trial. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was convicted on all 30 counts.
Rather, it was a bit of seemingly innocuous news that led to at least one controversial brand message: the release of Apple’s new, diverse emojis.
In a now-deleted tweet that included an emoji illustration of a bleach bottle, Clorox asked “Where’s the bleach?” in relation to the new symbols, some of which have darker skin tones.
Some observers took the tweet as saying that Clorox wanted to whiten the new emojis. Clorox issued this clarification/apology soon thereafter:
Wish we could bleach away our last tweet. Didn’t mean to offend – it was meant to be about all the 🚽🛁🍷emojis that could use a clean up.
— Clorox (@Clorox) April 9, 2015
Become a Ragan Insider member to read this article and all other archived content.
Sign up today
Already a member? Log in here.
Learn more about Ragan Insider.
