Over the past few years, we have seen a lot of companies gain attention by being “savage.” by dissing their rivals, and even some fans. It's hilarious to see companies like Wendy’s throwing shade at McDonald’s, and even going as far as to release a diss track. What makes “savagery” like this funny, however, is that it's relatively harmless. There's a fine line between savagery and distastefulness. This is a line that Snapchat crossed, when it made this cruel ad:
For those of you who may not know, Chris Brown assaulted then-girlfriend Rihanna back in 2009, after a Grammy’s Party. So it's pretty easy to see why this ad that is making light of domestic abuse, a situation that not just Rihanna, but many people have had to suffer through, is problematic on so many levels. Not only is it blatantly disrespectful, but it also displays a normalcy towards domestic abuse. The notion of not being taken seriously is one of the factors as to why nearly half of domestic abuse cases go unreported. This also gives off the impression that abuse is something we can all laugh about so long as it happened “a long time ago.” But whether it was one year ago or ten years ago, the fact remains that it's not a laughing matter.
One might argue that I'm making something out of nothing, but you have to ask yourself: Why did Snapchat have to specifically use Rihanna and Chris Brown? Why couldn't the ad be about Chris Brown and Drake? Or Rihanna and Katy Perry? There is an endless amount of combinations that Snapchat could have used that would have been a non-issue, but instead they chose an ex-couple that ended on an extremely sour note. I don't care if this was just a matter of “savagery gone wrong.” This was an extremely harmful thing to post to begin with.
On the bright side, Snapchat has faced consequences for its actions. When Rihanna discovered the ad, she posted this statement on her Instagram story:
Even after apologizing, Snapchat has lost $800 million dollars in stock. Additionally, prominent figures like Chrissy Teigen and Suzie Nguyen have denounced Snapchat in wake of this incident. While I'm sure that this won't be the death of Snapchat, I hope this helped them learn: You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. And if they ever want to try and be savage again, perhaps they can take a few lessons from the Queen herself.
