Delta Air Lines apologized on Tuesday for its celebrated "giraffe gaffe" -- a tweet after Monday night's USA victory in the World Cup that used an image of a giraffe to represent Ghana.
For many, the ill-fated tweet underscored Americans' often-parochial view of the rest of the world. Ghana is in Africa, and Africa is where all those exotic animals live, and there you are.
Well, everybody in Ghana knows there are no giraffes wandering around their country. And Delta Air Lines, international behemoth that it is, probably should have known, since it flies from Atlanta to Accra every day. The average American, however, probably has no idea.
Delta took an enormous helping of interwebz abuse: see our Storify compilation of the tweets that broke out almost immediately after Delta's tweet. This one sums them up pretty well: "Africa is the continent of the 21st century. Americans need to learn it is not a game preserve."
The airline took down the offending post not long after it went up.
"We're sorry for our choice of photo in our previous tweet," the company tweeted. "Best of luck to all teams."
And today, the airline posted an apology on its website:
Delta apologizes for World Cup post
Jun 17, 2014
Last night, we posted a congratulatory message on Twitter and Facebook to the U.S. Soccer team on its win in a World Cup game. The message used an image of a giraffe to represent Ghana. The image was both inaccurate and inappropriate.
As a global airline, we understand the role images play in shaping global perceptions. We also recognize our responsibility to create messages that are both accurate and inclusive. We take this responsibility seriously.
Yesterday, we failed to meet this responsibility. For this, we sincerely apologize.
We have removed the image and are reviewing our processes to ensure that future images and posts reflect both our values and our global focus.
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