ASOS' Instagram Fail

Usually, ASOS can do no wrong. But while I was flicking through my Instagram feed earlier, I came across this picture. Let me quickly explain why it’s the worst thing they have ever done (perhaps).

1. The use of “gurl” The word ‘gurl’ was never cool. Fact. What’s made things worse is that because Lauryn Hill is black, the use of the alternative spelling of girl reinforces the stereotype that all American black girls just walk around screaming ‘guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurl’ all day.

2. There’s a “The” missing I didn’t notice this the first time around but ASOS have missed the ‘The’ in The Fugees. Now, you may think this is extremely petty, however fans always get angry when people get sloppy with names. Can you imagine if a newspaper spelt Justin Bieber’s name wrongly? The newspaper would fold and all the journalists would be forced to hide in caves in less than 24 hours.

3. The misspelling of Lauryn It wouldn't have hurt just to double check how she spells her name. It would have taken less than a second. 4. “G’wan” Now. Let’s sit down and dissect this one. What is g’wan? I don’t know. I know what 'gwarn' is, it means ‘go on’ in a super encouraging way. You’ll hear it a lot in London, mainly by people of Caribbean descent. I do wonder what ASOS were trying to achieve here. Their use of g’wan is stupid on three levels 1) Lauryn Hill is American, 2) It’s spelt so badly it sounds like something a Scouse would say, 3) It sounds like ASOS were trying desperately to be ‘down’ with ‘the ethnics’. It was a poor attempt, and stereotypical, which is the second worst thing a company can do (the first being racist, obviously).

File this under: Instagram fail.

Stuff I don’t want to see in 2013

We are getting into the new year, but as a first post I thought I’d just throw out a list of stuff that should be left in 2012. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

1. Stunting on social network sites

Twitter has become a victim of its own success. What was once a pleasant place where people swapped news stories, ideas and internet funnies, has now been taken over by trolls and people that will tweet anything for attention. ‘Stunting’, or showing off, is now rife, e.g. ‘WE’RE GOING INNNNN TONIGHT’ [insert picture of a wad of what looks like illegally gained money]. It is incredibly sad that people feel the need to show off how much they have to people they don’t know, but what is even worse is that the vast majority may have cash/ expensive items, but they don’t have any paint on their walls/ savings/ a decent job.

2. Keep your relationship off the internet

It’s one of the most stupid things a person can do. But still people do it all the time. Whether you are Twitter famous, or Tumblr hot, proclaiming your undying love for someone else, and uploading hundreds of pictures of you two always sounds good at the time, but when it ‘all falls down’, you’re left with an Instagram feed full of a person you now hate, and questions from people you don’t know asking why you are now single.

3. Pictures of your dinner

Before uploading that picture of your dinner, ask yourself: ‘Does anyone care?’

The answer is no.

Always no.

4. Abbreviated words

Is time that short that we must abbreviate everything? When did ‘perfect’ become ‘perf’? Stop that. No one likes an illiterate.