United Nations Women, the "UN entity for gender equality and women's empowerment," posted a tweet obviously aimed at calling for equality for all races and genders throughout the world.
Sadly, a slight misstep while designing the emoji-filled tweet has thrown that messaging out the window, as many on Twitter were quick to point out.
ππΏππΏππΏππΏππΏππΏππΏππΏππΏππΏππΏ ππΏππΎππΎππΎππΎππΎππΎππΎππΎππΎππΏ ππΏππΎππ½ππ½ππ½ππ½ππ½ππ½ππ½ππΎππΏ ππΏππΎππ½ππΌππΌππΌππΌππΌππ½ππΎππΏ ππΏππΎππ½ππΌππ»ππ»ππ»ππΌππ½ππΎππΏβ¦ https://t.co/ohQwmOKC6jβ UN Women (@UN Women) 1580161194.0
The tweet, which is now pinned to the UN Women Twitter account, features many different hands pointing towards "EQUALITY."
However, the account's decision to sort the hands by color resulted in white hands being much closer to equality than darker-skinned hands, who are pretty far from the concept.
@UN_Women Equality but blacks on the sidelines πππ½ Either way I support more equity.β Jorge Luis Altuve (@Jorge Luis Altuve) 1580178215.0
@UN_Women This doesnβt look good, so Iβm closer to equality than a WOC? Cause thatβs what this poster implies, whyβ¦ https://t.co/HVVJorQiO0β π₯΄π€ͺ (@π₯΄π€ͺ) 1580203255.0
@UN_Women I absolutely hate this visual. Another company I admire used this recently and it just rubs me the wrongβ¦ https://t.co/pBfCRi2dEBβ Caroline HΓ€ming (@Caroline HΓ€ming) 1580210450.0
The account inadvertently sent the exact opposite message it had intended.
@UN_Women So the white hands get to equality first or what?β ZonkeZethu (@ZonkeZethu) 1580196795.0
@UN_Women Though this visual might be appealing from a pure aesthetic point of view, it utterly fails in visualizinβ¦ https://t.co/QkW2wAANaQβ MoSchneider (@MoSchneider) 1580193991.0
@UN_Women Oh, dear. I'll tell you this much..your intention and our perception aren't aligned.β Kate, in the middle of Rose & Will β€οΈπ¨π¦β€οΈπ¨π¦ (@Kate, in the middle of Rose & Will β€οΈπ¨π¦β€οΈπ¨π¦) 1580206649.0
Many called on the UN Women account to take down the tweet and try again.
@UN_Women I support @UN_Women but this tweet is a complete misfire. Please delete, correct and hire more black womeβ¦ https://t.co/aqf0TDBFzkβ AvRoyal ππ ππ« (@AvRoyal ππ ππ«) 1580226017.0
@UN_Women @_aylinkarabulut Trying to figure out the logo: the lighter the colour, the closer to equality? Looking very weird to me...β Rainer BrΓΆmer (@Rainer BrΓΆmer) 1580190669.0
@UN_Women I donβt think Iβm reading this the way it was intended.. https://t.co/FULkX9uzZ8β Ntokozo Mdletshe (@Ntokozo Mdletshe) 1580225235.0
Others, however, didn't see any issue with the imagery.
@UN_Women Genius!β Irene Coello Collada πΊ (@Irene Coello Collada πΊ) 1580171290.0
@UN_Women This is a stunning graphic. Well done ππΏβ Let's Heal Together (@Let's Heal Together) 1580176980.0
@UN_Women Such a beautiful tweetππ»β Alaa Al Ghanem Al Humayed (@Alaa Al Ghanem Al Humayed) 1580199884.0
We still have a long way to go before we reach equality in the real world.
@UN_Women This is exactly how it works πͺ.....β βͺοΈXhosa Basquiat π¦ (@βͺοΈXhosa Basquiat π¦ ) 1580195887.0
@UN_Women That other privileged colour is the only one close to equality , the other permanently under-privileged cβ¦ https://t.co/0OinQwGyG8β Planetist Themba Vryman (@Planetist Themba Vryman) 1580220575.0
Just for the record, one Twitter user demonstrated how the tweet SHOULD have been designed.
@UN_Women @swedense ππΏππΎππ½ππΌππΏππΏππΌππ½ππΎππΏππΏ ππΌππΏππΎππ½ππΌππ»ππΌππ½ππΎππΏππ» ππΌππΌππΏππΎππ½ππΌππ½ππΎππΏππΌππΌ ππ½ππ½ππ½ππΏππΎππ½ππΎππΏππ½ππ½ππ½ ππΎβ¦ https://t.co/Hjgkl7rBjCβ α©αͺIαE αTα©αIα΄Oααͺ (@α©αͺIαE αTα©αIα΄Oααͺ) 1580214002.0
When calling for equality, it's important to show some actual equality.
The UN Women's account will get it right next time for sure.