“Everyone is Charlie, 3Suisses as well”
Despite the wave of protest, the former mail order company has defended its initiative fervently. The group has posted on its Facebook page: “After reading several comments, we want to reconfirm our decision. This is not a commercial message, but a sign of our commitment as citizens. We deemed it evident to attach our brand name to that of Charlie Hebdo as a sign of solidarity”.
It added the following: “3Suisses consists of men and women who feel freedom of free speech is important, who are touched by this drama and who want to share their feelings. Today, all 3Suisses employees are Charlie.”
Marketing blunder of the year?
The explanation convinced very few people on Twitter and Facebook. They continue to question why the company hasn’t just used the well-known black rectangle with white letters, like so many other companies have done. Social media specialist Steven Van Belleghem agrees and has labeled 3Suisses’s image as “the worst tweet in corporate history. How do you even consider this?”
Still, there are others who have questioned those who have opposed 3Suisses’s post. They point out that 3Suisses also has freedom of speech, even in the way it expresses that meaning.
