BIC apologizes for Women’s Day post

On 9 August, Bic published a message on their Facebook page encouraging women to ‘look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a boss’. The message prompted an outcry on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, with many users stating how offensive the message was.

https://twitter.com/jcraigatl/status/631194776784752641

https://twitter.com/janetbr/status/631085997573451776

The company has since removed the picture from its Facebook page and issued an apology.

The apology reads: “We would like to apologise to all our fans who took offence to our recent Women’s Day post. We can assure you that we meant it in the most empowering way possible and in no way derogatory towards women. We took the quote from a ‘Women in Business’ blog site. The blog site explains the quote and what its intentions were when it was written. Bic believe in celebrating women and the powerful contribution women make to our society.”

The blog post came from a website called Spicy Broccoli, where author, Sarah Taylor, broke down the supposed meaning behind the words. “Thinking like a man aids you to achieve a professional standard in the business world. This is because women who know how to position themselves are more successful. Sheer nerve and real guts will get your further than talent, which is sad because those with real talent go unnoticed; but let’s face it, it is the truth.

“If you dress like a lady, but think like a man it’s safe to say that you will not be mistaken in your field, it will show you are confident and know what you are doing, which is fantastic in running a business.”

However, the public was still unhappy with the apology, with many stating that stealing quotes from a blog was not going to cut it and there was nothing empowering about degrading women.

Bic has issued another statement on the company’s Facebook page. “Hi everyone. Let’s start out by saying we’re incredibly sorry for offending everybody – that was never our intention, but we completely understand where we’ve gone wrong. This post should never have gone out. The feedback you have given us will help us ensure that something like this will never happen again, and we appreciate that.”