JINHA

NEWS CENTER - When Bic launched a sexist ad campaign on South Africa's Women's Day (August 9), women took to social media to express their outrage. The company has now had to apologize not once but twice.

On August 9, South Africa celebrates Women's Day to remember the 1956 day when 20,000 women marched on Pretoria to protest apartheid laws restricting the movement of Black people. This was the occasion that Bic chose for a pen ad campaign with the slogan: "Look like a girl. Act like a lady. Think like a man. Work like a boss."

After women mocked the ad campaign on social media with the hashtag #BicFail, the company issued an apology of the ad. Women were not mollified, and the company apologized a second time, claiming that they intended the ad to be "empowering" rather than derogatory. "Hey Bic, I fixed this for you," tweeted @fonticulus, who changed the slogan to read: "Look like a woman. Act like a woman. Think like a woman. Work like a woman."

Bic had previously earned ire and mockery in 2012 for its "Bic for Her" marketing of "pens for women."

(cm)