Did Sprint Need To Pull This Ad Of A Woman Calling T-Mobile ‘Ghetto’?

Sprint always seems to be in some sort of battle with its biggest competitors, Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, but the company most likely didn’t think things through before releasing their latest ad for their #ListeningTour campaign. In a new commercial, a white woman in a focus group sits beside Sprint’s CEO Marcelo Claure and calls T-Mobile “ghetto,” as Claure nods and laughs with the rest of the group.

The ad caused an uproar on Twitter Tuesday night. Many people agreed the ad was tasteless and some even called it racist.

https://twitter.com/dcseifert/status/720032163253653505

The commercial begins with Claure asking the group of “actual customers and not actors” their first thoughts when he mentions one of Sprint’s competitors, starting with T-Mobile. The unnamed woman beside him says, “Oh my God. The first word that came to my head was ‘ghetto’! That sounds, like terrible. I always thought there were like three carriers, it’s AT&T, Sprint and Verizon–and people who have T-Mobile, it’s just like… Why do you have T-Mobile?”

After the first wave of backlash immediately after the video was posted, Claure half-heartedly apologized on Twitter and vowed to take the video down.

Then, he apologized again on Wednesday for the tasteless commercial.

(Via Digiday)