We apologize as well if our handling of the tweets offended anyone.
One of the things that I hate most in the world is when people use the word "if" in an apology. You should either make a real apology about being offensive, or stand your ground.
I don't know why it keeps being flagged - there are loads of relevant issues at play here:
- Why sexism is a real issue within I.T.
- How Twitter can amplify customer criticism
- How (not) to handle complaints
It seems Shanley interviewed with them initially and didn't get the job? Maybe, that's the start of the issue.
Frankly, Shanley was really offensive in her approach and Christian's responses seem pretty measured. Not sure what the big deal is.
The first big paragraph in the article is right. Christian had a perfect opportunity to turn this into a PR SUCCESS and instead decided to attack the method of criticism and attempt to shift the blame of the tasteless ad onto someone else.
It's tacky and easy to see through. He could have ended the conversation there by offering to take a look at the video and instead decided to turn it into a meta-"you're being mean" discussion that so often happens on reddit where... sure enough... 30 minutes later, people are bickering about meta aspects of the discussion instead of the original issue.
The story should have been framed as a PR misstep, not a calculated attack against women. I'd say Shanley's crass behavior gives women a much worse name than the girl who showed some skin for a commercial.
