The Violin Apology

Their first apology was very similar to Dove’s "missed the mark" apology:

"We understand how this video could be perceived by some as offensive, and we apologize to those who were offended...We have removed the video from all Mountain Dew channels and have been informed that Tyler is removing it from his channels as well."

Note that Mt. Dew apologizes to "those who perceived the ad as offensive," but not to the fact that they created and released a racist ad. Furthermore, using the word "perceived" is another way of saying, we didn’t think it was offensive, but to the over sensitive people who thought it was offensive, we apologize to you so that you will shut-up and keep purchasing our products.

Obviously many others felt the apology was "hopeless, like a penny with a hole in it," because Mt. Dew quickly issued a second apology:

We Apologize for this video and take full responsibility. We have removed it from all Mountain Dew Channels and Tyler is removing it from his channels as well.

They even purchased promotional space on Twitter to spread their apology. You may have seen a tweet show up in your newsfeed from Mt. Dew: "Hey guys – made a big mistake we’ve removed the offensive video from all our channels. #fail

Not to be hyper-critical, but Mt. Dew still refuses to say "we" or "I" made a big mistake.... As always, the apology should make you forget about the entire racist stereotypical ad and go on with your life as if nothing ever happened, until the next racist ad is released. Chris Sigmon, a twitter user, said, "whoever created this #MountainDew ad & whoever allowed it the play should be fired.... #JustPlainStupid." Yuriy Boykiv, CEO of Gravity Media, agreed, "buying ads for the apology is not a smart thing to do unless they are just asking for more publicity."

However, marketing professionals Sabrina Horn, CEO of Horn Group, and Jason Stein, former president of Laundry Service, a social media agency, both agree that purchasing Twitter promotional space shows how sincere they were about their apology. Sabrina Horn said, "The instances where companies hesitate to respond or don't admit fault are the ones we remember forever."