TEXAS MARKETING COMPANY REAPS THE WHIRLWIND AFTER THEY SHAMED AN APPLICANT
So much for contemporary business having a single damn clue about how to handle social media. It’s enough to make anyone mad. But especially if you’re a woman. Shaming is a term that keeps coming up these days. Fat shaming, body shaming, pretty much anything shaming these days. It just keeps happening. But this time, it happened to a woman who was an applicant for a job at a Texas marketing company, Kickass Masterminds. But when it came to light, the backlash has proved huge, even dangerous. Kickass “Masterminds” decided to post an Instagram bathing suit picture of a woman applicant to serve as an example of what a woman applicant shouldn’t do. This is ugly stuff. And companies need to learn better.
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KICKASS MASTERMINDS, FOUNDED BY WOMEN, SHAMES APPLICANT ONLINE OVER NORMAL BATHING SUIT PICTURE
So yes, that’s pretty much horrible. Was the photo salacious? No. But was it suggestive? Again, no. Yet Kickass Masterminds posted this picture as a negative example, along with advice on “professionalism.” Ugh. Yes, it’s pretty ugly stuff, to be sure. The applicant’s name is Emily Clow. She applied for a marketing position at the Austin, Texas company. But why this company? Well, this is where irony and outrage meet hand in hand. She liked Kickass Masterminds because “it was a company founded by women, seemed to support women in business and worked with start-ups.” Again, ugh. And yes, the story still gets worse. No, really.
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CONDESCENSION, BODY SHAMING FROM MARKETING DINOSAURS FORCES MARKETING COMPAY OFFLINE
So how? Well, when Kickass Masterminds posted the picture of Clow wearing a bathing suit, they included this caption, “I am looking for a professional marketer – not a bikini model. Go on with your bad self and do whatever in private. But this is not doing you any favors in finding a professional job.” Yuck. See? It got worse. So how did this happen? Well, Kickass Masterminds’ job applications request a Facebook or Instagram handle from their applicants. That’s how they got ahold of Clow’s utterly normal, innocuous picture of her in a bathing suit. But their application also suggests that applicants also follow them on Instagram. And that’s exactly how Clow found the offensive post of her, with the even more offensive “advice.”
Clow asked them to remove the post multiple times. But the company didn’t comply for a while. They also blocked her on Instagram. But Clow decided to tweet about her experience. As a result, the huge backlash against the company has forced them to make all their social media accounts private. Now, I’m only guessing here. But that seems to be a total problem for a marketing firm. Right? Right?
