Giraffe gaffe: Delta apologizes for USA-Ghana World Cup tweet
Delta Airlines has apologized for a tweet — posted after Monday's thrilling 2-1 U.S. World Cup victory over Ghana — that used a picture of a giraffe to represent the African country.
"Congrats team #USA!" Delta wrote in the tweet, which included an overlay of the score above stock images of the Statue of Liberty and a giraffe.
But the airline deleted the tweet after Twitter users pointed out that while the continent of Africa may be home to giraffes, Ghana is not.
PHOTO: Delta Airlines thinks there are giraffes in Ghana. There aren't. http://t.co/9VsWsCfQSe pic.twitter.com/pGMJ6p0ljA
— theScore (@theScore) June 17, 2014
"Sorry, Delta," Yahoo's Graham Watson wrote on Dirty Tackle. "Not all African countries feature all of the animals you get to see at the zoo."
I'm guessing that when you book a flight to any of Nigeria or Kenya or the Ivory Coast or Ghana, @Delta tickets just say 'Africa, whatever'
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) June 17, 2014
The airline later issued an apology.
We're sorry for our choice of photo in our previous tweet. Best of luck to all teams.
— Delta (@Delta) June 17, 2014
Nonetheless, the ill-conceived tweet was widely mocked and sparked several photo-driven parodies.
hugs for you @Delta this twitter thing is not easy http://t.co/srSWPKuvLJ
— darth™ (@darth) June 17, 2014
Ironically, Delta flies to Accra. Perhaps they never looked outside?
— Lizzie O'Leary (@lizzieohreally) June 17, 2014
my last @Delta flight pic.twitter.com/HUv1QVEzvA
— k8 (@rolling_2) June 17, 2014
Hope someone at @Delta is taking a good hard look at their picture of Germany in advance. Just saying.
— Jon Favreau (@jonfavs) June 17, 2014
