It seems that this is the new retail marketing playbook. Slander black people with racist products, attract a lot of attention for the slight, and then issue an insincere apology or statement later.
Italian company Wycon thought it would be hip to name their name polish after hip-hop lyrics, but Twitter was not having it.
wycon is cancelled pic.twitter.com/n6xc4a4TOF
— ; (@beycoeur) January 19, 2018
Wycon tried to explain that the names were inspired by hip-hop artist DBangz and their name choice was part of the culture, but it did not go over well.
Another day, another brand to cancel 👋🏾😂 bye @wyconcosmetics you are so dumb pic.twitter.com/eC7TI0T0eV
— Tia Taylor 🇯🇲🇳🇬🇺🇸 (@MissTiaTaylor_) January 18, 2018
These recent incidents are not accidents. Companies that peddle in racist marketing tactics understand that any publicity is good publicity and are willing to risk upsetting a marginalized group in order to gain notoriety.
Wycon has since removed the racist shade names for their gel polish and replaced them with numbers on their Instagram page. Flip the page for the statement from Wycon and more Twitter reactions.