A New York-based frozen yogurt chain is apologizing for parodying Donald Trump’s “grab em’ by the p—y comments in an advertisement.
https://twitter.com/_carolineotoole/status/788865584142450688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
16 Handles sent an email out to subscribers with the headline “We’re Making Fro-Yo Great Again,” a play on Trump’s “Make American Great Again,” campaign slogan. Within the body of the email was another play on one of Trump’s comments, as 16 Handles wrote, “Grab Em’ by the Fro-Yo.” The advertisement pokes fun at the hot mic comments Trump made about wanting to sexually assault woman 11 years ago.
The obvious problem with the advertisement is 16 Handles lack of awareness surrounding the remarks. Trump’s comments aren’t funny, they’re vulgar and disgusting. Hearing the lewd comments and deciding “hey, we should use this to advertise our business,” is disappointing.
16 Handles were unsurprisingly widely criticized for the advertisement. The Fro-Yo chain issued an apology, stating they don’t endorse any specific presidential comments and that the pop culture reference was a “callous mistake.”
We are deeply apologetic, and we will do better. 😳😔 pic.twitter.com/mKL0EuPzdu
— 16 Handles (@16Handles) October 19, 2016
I’ll give 16 Handles this, the apology seems genuine and touches on all the important topics of why the advertisement was wrong in the first place. It doesn’t forgive the fact someone in the company thought it was OK to send out the message to the masses, but at least 16 Handles damage controlled the appropriate way, which is a growing rarity in this day-and-age.
