Subscription TV firm Sky Sports has scrapped its new TikTok account focusing on female sports followers after simply three days, after the type and tone of its movies confronted backlash.
Social media customers labeled the account “condescending,” “patronizing” and “sexist,” accusing it of perpetuating the issues it purported to deal with.
“Our intention for Halo was to create a space alongside our existing social channels for new, young, female fans,” Sky stated in a statement Sunday. “We’ve listened. We didn’t get it proper. As a end result we’re stopping all exercise on this account.
“We’re learning and remain as committed as ever to creating spaces where fans feel included and inspired.”
Complete with a brand drenched in vivid sundown colours, the account was initially marketed as “Sky Sports’ lil sis,” accompanied by a sparkle emoji.
From the beginning, the intention was to create “not a women’s sports account” however “sports content through a female lens,” Andy Gill, Sky’s viewers improvement and social media head, stated in a LinkedIn post asserting the new account, which was launched Thursday.
It was this distinction that in the end appeared to create the issue. Sky Sports deleted all of the content material it had posted however clips that resurfaced elsewhere on TikTok present a succession of movies with pastel, sparkly writing overlaid on them.
In one broadly circulated video, Sky posted a sped-up clip of Manchester City striker Erling Haaland scoring towards Bournemouth with the caption “How the matcha + hot girl walk combo hits.” In one other, it posted a clip of F1 driver Charles Leclerc speaking about his latest engagement and fiancée. NCS was unable to independently confirm the movies.
Rather than making a “welcoming community for female sports fans” as Gill’s LinkedIn put up stated the corporate meant, posting content material like this solely perpetuated stereotypes about feminine sports activities followers, lots of of TikTok, Reddit and X customers stated.
And through the use of such a particular aesthetic, Sky inadvertently created a TikTok template with which different customers may mock it. Suddenly, the platform was flooded with viral clips of sport, full with pink, sparkly, tongue-in-cheek captions laid over them.
“thank you sky sports halo, I’ve finally understood why I couldn’t understand football before. It’s bc (because) there was no pink writing on screen with loads of girlie emojis,” one consumer wrote over a video of England’s Lionesses enjoying Brazil final month, set to Aqua’s 1997 track “Barbie Girl.”
“Scrums and matcha is for the girly pops,” Harlequins rugby participant Orla Proctor wrote over a clip of England taking up New Zealand on Saturday, with Hello Kitty, pink ribbon and matcha emojis for added emphasis.
Sky Sports declined NCS’s request for additional remark.