The once seemingly successful app that erases our pictures after ten seconds has been declining in popularity the past few years. Not only has Snapchat lost its uniqueness of story features to its competitors, Instagram and Facebook; CEO Evan Spiegel has negatively affected Snapchat’s public image with media mistakes. Let’s take a look at some examples of Snapchat getting it wrong.
Photo Courtesy of iTunes – Apple
Just last year, former Snapchat employee Anthony Pompliano revealed that Mr. Spiegel, turned down the idea of expanding overseas at a growth meeting in 2015. Mr. Spiegel supposedly stated, “This app is only for rich people. I don’t want to expand into poor countries like India and Spain.” Yikes!
Although Snapchat denied these claims and called Mr. Pompliano “a disgruntled employee,” the app faced negative consequences when users in India and Spain tweeted #BoycottSnapchat, deleted the app and left one-star reviews on iTunes.
However, this wasn’t the only time Snapchat came across as prejudiced.
In 2016, Snapchat ruled out two racist filters that seemed to resemble “black face” and “yellow face.” The first depicted Bob Marley, which was released on April 20th, otherwise known as the marijuana-smoking holiday. This filter made users’ skin appear darker, changed the shape of their noses and eyes, and gave them dreadlocks. Users were not happy that the app failed to acknowledge Bob Marley’s musical talent, but seemed to only acknowledge him for smoking marijuana.
The second filter released later that year changed users’ faces to appear with slanted eyes and puffy cheeks, depicting an Asian stereotype. Later, the app removed the filter and explained that it was meant to depict anime characters. However, users were hurt by what seemed to be racist.
When Mr. Spiegel was asked about diversity in the tech industry at Recode’s Code Conference, he gave this response. “There are so many things that feed into diversity and equality that unpacking them on the stage is probably not the best use of time.” The audience got the message that discussing diversity was “not the best use of his time.”
In our CEO’s how-to book: Off the Cuff/What to Say at a Moment’s Notice, Part I is titled: Business is a Contact Sport. In it, Los Angeles media coach Anne Ready writes: ” I teach clients that being able to keep your candor, compassion, and humor in any situation garners the respect and admiration of the press and audiences alike.”
In a final chapter on Arguments and Apologies, she continues: “The minute you know you are wrong, begin at once to do what’s right. If your company was in part responsible, give an honest and sincere apology and show as well as tell the specific actions taken to ensure that the initial situation will not–cannot–be repeated.”
The point: In 2014, 4 million Snapchat account user names and phone numbers were leaked. Snapchat seemed to ignore the security warnings and allow the hack to happen. Mr. Spiegel never issued a formal apology, saying only on NBC Today, “If you spend your time looking backwards, you’re just going to kill yourself.”
Not even a ghost of an apology!