After some heavy social media scrutiny, the Saskatchewan Roughriders called an audible Wednesday.
The CFL team apologized for an email campaign sent to season-ticket holders that was based on a TikTok trend.
The email sent out Tuesday referenced “Girl Math,” which is based on a viral trend where people justify spending choices with faulty math.
“It’s basically free,” “Big Savings – no influencer code needed!” and “Take the stairs. Earn the seltzers!” were phrases seen in the original email.
The marketing campaign was greeted with criticism on social media.
“Our playful attempt at ‘girl math,’ a lighthearted TikTok trend created by women where humour is used to explain purchases, ended up not feeling lighthearted at all to our fans,” the team said in the email it sent Wednesday. “For that, we unequivocally apologize.”
The email went on to say that the original campaign was imagined, developed and deployed by women within the Riders’ marketing team.
“However, we failed to recognize that the sentiments captured would not necessarily be perceived as coming from the creativity of women on our team and that our online ‘voice’ is one that is largely considered to be male,” it read.
The email ended with the team saying it will use the opportunity to learn and do better in the future.