Sterling Bank and Agege Bread Ad: An Unpardonable Gaffe

Holiday campaigns are crucial for most brands, this is a smart way for a brand to maximise their communication campaign. A well-planned approach can help promote sales or a reminder to customers about the value it preached. Last weekend, the Christian community celebrated Easter, many brands and businesses took advantage of the season to push out creative campaigns and felicitate with the Christians, but for Sterling Bank, it was an odd period when things went south due to their own indiscretion.

The message could have been an incredible brand connection and greeting to felicitate the Christian community for the Easter Celebration but drew widespread public criticism from Nigerians who expressed their outrage online over the comparison of the rise of Jesus to the rise of Agege Bread.

The message was considered offensive by many who wondered if Sterling Bank deliberately set out annoy Christians. Many social media users called the bank out and urged regulatory bodies to penalise them for such offensive content.

In its reaction on Monday, the Advertising Practitioner Council of Nigeria (APCON) threatened to take necessary action to ensure that the bank is sanctioned for “the exposure of such offensive advertisement according to law.”

The council also described the advertisement as “distasteful”, adding that it was neither submitted nor approved for exposure by the Advertising Standards Panel, the statutory body charged with the responsibility of ensuring that advertisements conform with prevailing laws.

Crisis Response
Responding to the fallout of the underlying message, Sterling Bank pulled down the post and made a new post, then a letter of apology for the faux pas went viral.

The letter read: “The content of the infographic and the message it contained was insensitive and failed to consider the very sober nature of the event being commemorated, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

“While the message had no malicious intents, there is no place for content that fails to fully account for the feelings of billions of people all over the world. Our honest intent was to join our millions of customers in Nigeria and worldwide in celebrating this solemn event, but our executions fell short on this occasion”.

It also released a pictorial message with iconography quoting the Bible verse, John 8:7, “…let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone”.

“Forgive us in the spirit of Easter,”

“Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. We humbly celebrate His resurrection, the defeat of death, and the hope of salvation.”

Public Outcry

Rather than achieving the intended aim, the tweet ended up enraging people more especially the part the Bank wrote that those who had not sinned should be the first cast stones. The Bank’s poor and insensitive PR officers wrote the apology letter as if forgiveness was their birthright. Nigerians on Twitter didn’t take it lightly with the Bank at all…

Some Tweets went thus:

‘@Oyoyonwa1 said, “Seriously? Let him who has not sinned cast the first stone? And this is supposed to be some kind of apology? Who approves these things?’

‘@dinaudoh said, “You need to overhaul your creative department as these Easter posts have been in bad taste, insensitive, and rather disturbing. For a bank that claims to care to be about each customer, you shouldn’t disparage any religion or its symbols. DO BETTER!!!”

@NwaezeMma said, “Your apology is not sincere. Try it with other religions and see. Do right.”

‘@AdaGOkoli wrote, “If this is an apology, then it will not rise with Nigerians.”

‘@Moolaoye said, “Whoever told you that forgiveness is by arrogance and not by repentance. This is not a message to seek forgiveness but a message to justify! Don’t send a message that you know nothing about. #blasphemous.” It added.

Strategic

The editorial team could have been more sensitive to the feelings of Christians before posting such offensive content. The content of the apology was even more annoying. This is incompetence at the highest level.

It should have observed the word of Bear Bryant, an American Football coach, who remarked, “In a crisis, don’t hide behind anything or anybody. They’re going to find you anyway.”

Sterling Bank, long ago, has engaged with cerebral creative concept writers and strategic communicators who can do better to convince and persuade Nigerians while deploying the message to the same media to reassure the public and sensitize its workforce to ensure the fallout won’t repeat itself as described in the letter.

Also, deploying persuasive techniques which require reinforcing attitudes and beliefs, or behaviour to garner favour and goodwill.

Anyway, brands will learn from this slip-up to be ‘watchful of contents, particularly those that relate with faith in the future, since a slender line is exceptionally hazardous to cross in any event like this.