Snapchat stocks dropped after a March 2018 ad, which asked users whether they would rather “slap Rihanna” or “punch Chris Brown,” her former boyfriend who was convicted of hitting her (Photograph by Getty)
SNAPCHAT
US$800 million
In a March 2018 ad, Snapchat asked users whether they would rather “slap Rihanna” or “punch Chris Brown,” her former boyfriend who was convicted of hitting her. Rihanna lamented that the company “spent money to animate something that would intentionally bring shame to [domestic violence] victims and made a joke of it.”
NIKE
US$1.1 billion
During a much-hyped February 2019 basketball game between Duke and North Carolina universities, superstar prospect Zion Williamson sprained his knee because his Nike shoe disintegrated mid-game. It didn’t help that Barack Obama could be seen on the sidelines, declaring, “His shoe broke!”
PELOTON
US$1.1 billion
A December 2019 ad for the stationary bicycle company elicited outrage, with viewers claiming the video—in which a husband buys his wife a Peloton, perhaps implying she needs to lose weight—was sexist. Peloton said the commercial was misinterpreted.
TESLA
US$5.4 billion
In August 2018, Tesla founder Elon Musk told the New York Times that “this past year has been the most difficult and painful year of my career . . . [and] the worst is yet to come.” In reaction to Musk’s claim that stress had caused his health to deteriorate, markets trimmed about nine per cent off Tesla’s stock price.