This Pen Company Wants Us To “Look Like A Girl…Think Like A Man”

BIC, the international pen company, decided to celebrate South Africa's Women's Day with an ad on Facebook that told women to "think like a man." The full text: "Look like a girl. Act like a lady. Think like a man. Work like a boss." As a reminder, this is the company that created pens marketed to women by offering them in pastel shades (lavender or mint) and creating a "thin barrel to fit a woman's hand." Not surprisingly, BIC's Facebook fans cried foul on its latest social media stunt. “Why am I expected to look like a child? Why am I expected to see the world through a masculine lens? Why am I expected to ‘think like a man’ but not expected to ‘act like a man’ on my so-called manly thoughts?” one commenter said, according to The Guardian. Eventually, BIC took note and posted an apology on its Facebook page after removing the ad. Unfortunately, the apology was also problematic (it blamed a "Women in Business" blog for the offending quote):

We would like to apologize to all our fans who took offense 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 believes in celebrating women and the powerful contribution women make to our society.

This first apology was then deleted after commenters pointed out the "non-apology" aspect — but screenshots were shared, naturally.

The final apology reads as follows: 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.

Everyone else on the internet? Still not impressed.