We all love Snapchat. It’s a fact. It’s such a simple way to chat with your girl gang, send stupid pictures to make people laugh and talk to people with a little flair added to your cute selfie. You can usually walk around campus and spot multiple people who are Snapchatting, whether they’re taking a cute pic for their crush or capturing their long, caffeine-induced all-nighters at Stroz. I even have friends where our sole communication exists on Snapchat. I’m not even sure if I have their number or not.
So we all know that Snapchat is the superior social media app, but I think we can all agree that after this new update, Snapchat has gotten increasingly more confusing and way less fun.
Courtesy: en.dopl3r.com
What was news to me was that Snapchat’s stock suffered from the drastic new update just from a short tweet from Kylie Jenner, an icon on social media. Apparently, Kylie tweeted that she never snaps anymore because of this annoying update, and I guess since she has so much influence on the youth of America, Snapchat’s stock dropped $1.3 billion dollars! We can’t even imagine how much money this is as we’re all on that #ramen #life, so it must have hurt their wallet a little.
On a more serious note, Snapchat’s stock has been further compromised because an issue that came from a sponsored ad which was disrespectful toward Rhianna. @Badgalriri, aka Rhianna, just sent Snapchat’s street cred way down when she called out the app on Instagram for exploiting her relationship with Chris Brown in 2009.
The app had a pop-up ad for the game Would You Rather?. The example question asked the user whether they would rather “Slap Rhianna” or “Punch Chris Brown”. Without even considering the traumatic relationship that ended years ago, the company didn’t honor these celebrities as being people, thinking they could just use Chris and Rhianna to their advantage. Furthermore, these questions are completely offensive and dig up a past that should never be dwelled upon. Also, these two people had a bad relationship, one that involved domestic violence, something that shouldn’t be exploited in a game.
Rhianna obviously went after Snapchat and posted a photo on Insta with the caption, “I’d love to call it ignorance but I know you ain’t that dumb. You spent money to animate something that would intentionally bring shame to DV victims and made a joke of it.” Snapchat realizes their mistake; however, there is nothing they can really do or say that will take this back. They did come out with a statement that apologized for the ad, but it doesn’t change the company’s stock from dropping or Rhianna’s feelings being hurt. I love Rhianna for sticking up for herself as this is not only a attack against her, but also against all victims of domestic violence.