International paint manufacturer Crown Paints has opened up after a section of netizens were angered by a controversial billboard message.
The message that has sparked an uproar on social media reads: "Metallica: High fashion, low maintenance... unlike your girlfriend".
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, Crown Paints CEO Rakesh Rao indicated that the controversial billboard was erected back in 2015 and not 2018 as insinuated on social media.
[caption caption="Crown Paints CEO Rakesh Rao in a past event"]
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"The billboard was there in 2015 and we immediately pulled it down as soon as it sparked controversy," Rakesh revealed.
The paint manufacturer further noted that the message was a normal marketing procedure gone wrong and that they had no ulterior motive or malice.
"The message was just meant to get the consumers attention as we do in any other campaign for our products.
"When Kenyans viewed it differently, we called off the campaign immediately," the Crown Paints CEO noted.
But true to the phrase "the internet never forgets", some netizens had, nevertheless, called out at one of Kenya's leading paints manufacturers over the message.
Some raised concerns that it appeared to incite a gender conflict between men and women as well as between women and their female friends.
[caption caption="Reactions from a tweep over the billboard"]
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[caption caption="Netizens telling off those who criticized the billboard message "]
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This is not the first time a billboard marketing campaign failed to go down well with a section Kenyans sparking outrage on social media.
For instance, the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) Chief Executive Officer Ezekiel Mutua in May 2018 ordered the pulling down of a billboard that he termed unfit for public display due to clear sensualization in the wording.
Mutua, a self-declared Kenya's moral police had further indicated that the language used on the billboard was inappropriate, and the implied message adult in nature.
