The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2020
Tutoroo's founder told critics of its 'accent' ad it would not be removed — then it was
Tutoroo's ad had a man mishear a mispronounced number as sexual. Called racist and sexist, its founder said the video would stay up. It came down anyway.
Tutoroo · 2020-02
What happened
In February 2020, Singapore-based language-tutoring startup Tutoroo posted a promotional video in which a Western man approaches an Asian woman for her phone number; she mispronounces the digits in accented English, and he mishears it as a sexual proposition.
Critics called the ad racist and sexist for turning an accent into the setup for a sex joke, and for casting the misunderstanding as the woman's fault. Complaints piled up on Tutoroo's Facebook page, and commentators including Hong Kong Free Press and Vice covered the backlash.
Founder Nicolas Vanhove responded publicly that 95% of Tutoroo's staff were Asian and that the video 'aims to be funny and to make fun of accents, dialects and misunderstandings when it comes to learning a new language,' adding: 'we will not remove the video!' Tutoroo's official account mocked complainants with dismissive replies and eye-roll emoji rather than engaging with the criticism.
Why it happened
- Explaining a joke's intent doesn't undo who it's told at — the ad still made the punchline out of a non-native speaker's accent and a woman being misheard.
- Citing the diversity of your own staff answers a different question than the one being asked — it says who made the ad, not whether the ad itself was fair to the group it joked about.
- 'We will not remove the video' turned a content complaint into a standoff — a founder can survive being wrong about an ad; doubling down publicly is what makes the doubling-down itself the story.
The lesson
Tutoroo's founder said its 'funny accent' ad would not be removed. It was removed. Refusing to apologize doesn't end a backlash — it just adds the refusal to the story.
Aftermath
Despite the founder's public refusal, the video was eventually taken down. Tutoroo continued operating as a tutoring marketplace; no regulatory action followed, but the episode became a recurring example in Southeast Asian ad-ethics coverage.
Sources
- 'We will not remove the video': Tutoring website Tutoroo faces backlash over 'sexist, racist' promo — Hong Kong Free Press
- Language Tutoring Company Insists It's Not Racist After Posting Ad Making Fun of Chinese Accents — Vice
spotted an error? The club wants to know.
More like this
Apple's Thailand-set 'Underdogs' ad used a sepia filter to make the country look backward
Apple's Thailand ad showed a shabby hotel — a parliamentary committee summoned Apple
Prism+ had Xiaxue 'save the earth' at 23°C — Singapore's first greenwashing ruling
Somewhere, someone solved the problem this company failed at. 2nd Opinion →
Comments · 0
Sign in to join the comments.