Dbrand, the phone case company known for its sassy attitude toward users and tech companies, gave $10,000 to a customer as an apology after it made a racist comment about their last name.
On Tuesday, Dbrand reposted a complaint from a customer, Bhuwan Chitransh, who said that the skin they purchased for their MacBook changed color after just two months. Dbrand replied with a crude message that rhymed the customer’s name with “rash.” Chitransh later responded, saying Dbrand’s post reflects its racist perspective toward Indian customers.
The following day, the company said that it had made a “huge fumble.” Dbrand said it apologized to Chitransh and offered him $10,000 “as a gesture of goodwill.” However, Dbrand didn’t delete the original post until tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee made a post early Thursday morning, saying it caused “unnecessary” harm.
“Won’t be working with dbrand until that original tweet is deleted, at least,” Brownlee said. “You’re allowed to make shitty jokes, but the internet has made it pretty clear what it think[s] about this one, and the harm from it is unnecessary.” Dbrand deleted the post hours later, acknowledging that it “created a platform for hateful discourse.” Brownlee, who has worked with Dbrand on a line of icon-filled device skins, said it was “good to have you back” after the company deleted its post.
In a statement to The Verge, Dbrand CEO Adam Ijaz says the comment was a “severe lapse in judgment,” adding that Brownlee’s support helped the company “reflect more carefully” on how the comment created a “platform for vitriol.”
“We’ve been playing this gambit of poking fun at customers on social media for over a decade now,” Ijaz says. “Moving forward, our aim is to maintain the satire without resorting to insensitivity.”
