Rihanna asks followers to quit Snapchat for domestic violence ad slip up

Snapchat has pissed off Rihanna after an ad from its self-serve advertiser platform featuring an image of her went awry. This prompted the star to not only call out Snapchat, but she also urged her 61 million fans on Instagram to delete the app on their mobiles, despite the latter apologising twice for the mistake.The ad in question was promoting a mobile video game called “Would You Rather”, which is positioned as a party game, as stated in its iTunes store description. In the ad, an image of singer Robyn Rihanna Fenty (Rihanna) was placed on top Chris Brown asking viewers if they would rather “Slap Rihanna” or “Punch Chris Brown”.This drew the ire of both Rihanna fans and those who experienced domestic violence, given that Fenty herself was a recipient of domestic violence, her assailant being Brown. Netizens also called the ad "insensitive" and urged boycott of the app.Rihanna let them KNOW. RIP SNAPCHAT. pic.twitter.com/UPHYMCciCC— ‏ً (@Ioveonthebrain) March 15, 2018“This advertisement is disgusting and never should have appeared on our service. 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,” a Snapchat spokesperson said when contacted by Marketing.The spokesperson also confirmed that the ad was purchased through its self-serve advertising platform, all of which are subject to review, and added that the advertiser was “completely unaffiliated with Snapchat/Snap Inc”.  “Would You Rather” has also been blocked from the platform.Currently, all advertising on Snapchat needs to conform to its Advertising Policies, which disallows content which is “Shocking, sensational, or disrespectful”. A majority of its video advertising is purchased through its self-serve advertising platform, all of which are subject to review.She added that Snapchat has also worked with other organisations to prevent domestic abuse and violence. It explained that it supports the National Network to End Domestic Violence. Its executive vice president, Cindy Southworth, is current a member of its Safety Advisory Board. The company was also involved as an early supporter of the It's On Us campaign to end sexual violence on college campuses.In the wake of Fenty’s comments, Snap share prices also took a 4% dive, a BBC report said. This is the second time in the last two month, Snap shares took a dive because of stars on the platform. The first occurrence happened at the end of last month due to comments made by Kylie Jenner.Maybelline also deleted a tweet on its Twitter page which polled followers on whether or not it should continue its presence on Snapchat. According to the now deleted screenshots seen by Marketing, the beauty brand admitted that views on its Snapchat have “dropped dramatically”.