Friday Wake-Up Call: Rihanna Slams Snapchat, and Nike Probes Inappropriate Behavior

Author: Angela Doland / Source: Advertising Age

Welcome to Ad Age’s Wake-Up Call, our daily roundup of advertising, marketing, media and digital news. What people are talking about today: Rihanna excoriated Snapchat in a social media message (“Shame on you”) and Snap Inc.

stock dipped; it closed down 3.6 percent yesterday. She’s the second celebrity in the space of a month, after Kylie Jenner, to pan Snapchat and hurt the stock price of its parent company. The star was furious about an ad for a game app that appeared on Snapchat; it trivialized her 2009 assault by Chris Brown, asking “would you rather slap Rihanna or punch Chris Brown?” As Ad Age’s Garett Sloane writes, Snapchat apologized, called the game ad disgusting and said it never should have been allowed to run on the platform. But Rihanna apparently does not accept the apology. “All the women, children and men that have been victims of (domestic violence) in the past, and especially the ones who haven’t made it out yet… you let us down!” she wrote on Instagram. “Shame on you.”

Nike’s No. 2 is leaving
Nike released an internal memo that contains two big pieces of news: It’s been looking into reports of improper workplace behavior, and its No. 2 executive is leaving. The memo, from Nike CEO Mark Parker, reportedly says there have been reports of “behavior occurring within our organization that do not reflect our core values of inclusivity, respect and empowerment,” according to an excerpt in Fast Company.

At the same time, the memo says Parker is restructuring his leadership team to allow for a sharper focus on the company’s culture. It adds: “Trevor Edwards has decided to resign as Nike Brand President and will retire in August.” He will stay on as an advisor until then. Until now, Edwards was seen as a likely successor to the CEO, as The Wall Street Journal says. One important note here: According to a Nike spokesman quoted by the Journal, there were no allegations against Edwards. There are a lot of unanswered questions about all this, and Nike will probably be pressed to answer them.

A belated explanation
When John Skipper abruptly left his job as president of ESPN, citing a substance addiction, the media world was stunned. In a must-read interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he explains what happened:…

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