Snapchat's Stock Sinks After Rihanna Denounces Domestic Violence Ad
Rihanna, photographed in February, denounced an ad on Snapchat that made light of domestic violence. The company’s stock closed down by week’s end.
Mamadou Diop/AP
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Mamadou Diop/AP
Singer Rihanna denounced an ad that appeared on Snapchat making a game of domestic violence that featured photographs of her and Chris Brown. And the social media app’s stock price went tumbling.
“Now SNAPCHAT I know you already know you ain’t my fav app out there,” Rihanna said in a statement posted Thursday on rival social media platform Instagram, where she has 61 million followers. “I’d love to call it ignorance, but I know you ain’t that dumb! You spent money to animate something that would intentionally bring shame to DV victims and made a joke of it!!!”
The ad was for the mobile game “Would You Rather,” which asks users a series of questions, sometimes offensive. The ad said, “Would you rather slap Rihanna” or “punch Chris Brown.”
In 2009, Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault after Rihanna accused him of beating her and trying to push her out of a car. Photos emerged of her with a bruised face.
Snapchat had already yanked the ad Monday and issued an apology. But the ad reappeared on social media as users circulated it and questioned its content.
If she tells me to delete snapchat I’ll do it @rihannapic.twitter.com/yUW1UOzNc2
— Nicollette Williams (@nicollettemw) March 15, 2018
So am so mad at @Snapchat for that ad ” would you rather slap rihanna or punch chrisbrown” this is literally supporting domestic violence and i support @rihanna for clapping back… this is insane… #snapchatdown
— Mswawasi (@mswawasi) March 17, 2018
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.
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) March 12, 2018
“Just awful,” Chelsea Clinton tweeted. “Awful that anyone thinks this is funny. Awful that anyone thinks this is appropriate. Awful that any company would approve this.”
Apparently Snapchat agreed.
“This advertisement is disgusting and never should have appeared on our service,” a Snapchat spokesperson said in a statement. “We are so sorry we made the terrible mistake of allowing it through our review process. We are investigating how that happened so that we can make sure it never happens again.”
Snapchat has an automated ad-buying platform. But company policy states, “All ads are subject to our review and approval.” It also says it prohibits “Shocking, sensational, or disrespectful content.”
In her Instagram post, Rihanna went on to say, “This isn’t about my personal feelings, cause I don’t have much of them…but all the women, children and men that have been victims of DV in the past and especially the ones who haven’t made it out yet…you let us down! Shame on you. Throw the whole app-oligy away.”
Investors apparently heeded the call and threw away some stock. Snap Inc’s stock prices fell around 4 percent later Thursday, wiping out nearly $800 million from its market value, reports CNN. By Friday, it had rebounded some, but closed the week with a 1 percent loss.
Snapchat has experience with the kind of influence celebrities can wield. Last month after Snapchat changed its layout, Kylie Jenner, one of its most popular users, tweeted that she was no longer using the app.
sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me… ugh this is so sad.
— Kylie Jenner (@KylieJenner) February 21, 2018
The company’s stock quickly fell 6 percent, erasing more than a billion dollars from its market value, said CNN.
UMBC's President Talks About His School's Historic Basketball Win
The University of Maryland Baltimore County men’s basketball team beat the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament — by a lot. NPR’s Michel Martin talks with UMBC President Freeman Hrabowski about the win.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
And now we bring you news from the world of college basketball, March Madness. Last night saw one of the craziest games ever in the NCAA tournament. For the first time ever in the men’s tournament, a team seated 16th – for tournament purposes that means last – be a No. 1-seeded team. The University of Maryland, Baltimore County knocked off the top ranked team in the country, the University of Virginia, and it wasn’t even close. In fact, it was a 20-point blowout. To talk more about this, we called Freeman Hrabowski III. He is the president of UMBC, and he’s with us now from Charlotte where the game was played. Welcome. Thank you so much for joining us. Congratulations.
FREEMAN HRABOWSKI III: Thank you, Michel. Glad to be with you.
MARTIN: So, Mr. President, we’ve actually spoken with you a number of times to talk about things like STEM education, which is science, technology, engineering and math. And you’ve been known for expanding the number of minority students getting advanced degrees, for example. You’re nationally known for that. I didn’t even think you knew anything about basketball.
(LAUGHTER)
HRABOWSKI III: I know about math, so I’m not going to claim knowing a lot about basketball, but I do know a lot about my students. And my students and colleagues are always advising me on sports and on basketball and things like that.
MARTIN: So how did you – I mean, be honest. Were you expecting this?
HRABOWSKI III: I was expecting my students to give it everything they had. I was expecting them to show the country that you can come from a middle-sized place and be highly, highly competitive if you give it all you have. Who knows what the results would have been? We knew what everybody in the country was saying, but we believed in our players and our coach that they would show just how much they could do, and that’s what they did.
MARTIN: Well, let’s talk about the standout from last night, the player everybody’s talking about, Jairus Lyles. He dropped 28 points. He grabbed four rebounds. He got three assists. And to add to the deliciousness, both of his parents are graduates of the University of Virginia. And I just, you know, have to ask, you know, how is he doing today, and how are his parents doing?
HRABOWSKI III: You know, it’s amazing. His mother is unbelievable in her ability to rise to the occasion to give all of us support, quite frankly, and to work with the coach and others in being supportive of him. And Jairus is – he’s what you want to see in any son. He is with the humility and yet the confidence, the poise. You see it. But he’s also and this is for me really important. He has a 4.0. He is a serious student, and that’s the excitement for us about this win that we’ve worked very hard to balance academics and athletics, and it’s going well.
MARTIN: The Wichita Eagle newspaper put together the total basketball budgets for every team in the tournament. UVA spends about $8.5 million a year. And you probably know this because you’re the president of the university, UMBC spends less than 20 percent of that, and I wonder if that says anything to you?
HRABOWSKI III: Oh, we knew from the beginning that we were up against the richest university, public university, one of the richest and the oldest in the country. And we have great respect for them. And I had said on a panel with my colleague and friend, the president of UVA, that they’ve got all those years, that money. And Mr. Jefferson, what we had and what we still have is that grit that comes from working in middle class and the belief that you can do all things with that hard work and perseverance, quite frankly. So, yes, we all want more money. And we know money does make a difference, make no mistake about that. But there’s something to be said about defying the odds and going against whatever people think would happen and just showing that nobody defines who we are. That’s what’s so inspiring.
MARTIN: That’s Freeman Hrabowski III. He’s the president of the University of Maryland Baltimore County. The school’s basketball team beat the University of Virginia, the No. 1-ranked team on Friday in the first round of the men’s NCAA tournament. That’s never happened before in the men’s tournament. And in addition to being the president of UMBC, Mr. Hrabowski is the author of “Holding Fast To Dreams: From The Civil Rights Movement To STEM Achievement.” Mr. President, thanks so much for talking to us.
HRABOWSKI III: Thank you so much.
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