South Africa’s First National Bank (FNB) has confirmed it has launched disciplinary processes against members of staff responsible for an offensive Tweet which appeared on its customer care Twitter handle.
HumanIPO reported earlier this week FNB’s social media personality Rbjacobs responded to a Twitter user querying where Steve, the company’s widely known advertising persona, had disappeared to by saying: “He’s some where (sic) in Afghanistan, putting a bomb under a wheelchair and telling the cripple to run for it!”
Social media users responded with anger, saying the response was unacceptable, with the Tweet subsequently deleted and a number of apologies offered by both Rbjacobs and FNB.
The bank has now confirmed it is taking action against those responsible.
“We can confirm that disciplinary actions are currently underway as we are following the required industrial relations processes,” said Suzanne Myburgh, acting head of digital marketing and media at FNB, in response to a query from HumanIPO.
In spite of the uproar over the Tweet, Rbjacobs was back in the spotlight again yesterday, saying in a response to a suggestion by one user Rbjacobs was simply a bot: “Would a robot be able to tell you the waffle and ice-cream you ate on 7 April are going straight to your hips? RB.”
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