A TEXAS PR firm has been forced to pull the plug on its name after two years after accusations of racial insensitivity.
Strange Fruit PR has been operating in Austin for two years, but it was only after a barrage of Twitter reaction that they decided yesterday to delete their Facebook and Twitter accounts, and their web page.
‘Strange Fruit’ is probably most associated with the 1939 Billie Holiday song, written in protest at lynchings, particularly the lynching of two black men in Indiana in 1930.
TheFrisky.com reports that this wasn’t the first time the two women behind the PR company had been informed of the offensive nature of their name, citing tweets directed at them two years ago.
This time, the volume of attention directed at the firm meant that they were forced to take action, tweeting an apology before deleting their accounts.
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The New York Daily News reports that the women behind the company were aware of the song when they launched, but did not know what it was about, choosing it for its ‘culinary sound’.
The firm had represented hospitality companies in the Austin area.
Founders Ali Slutsky and Mary Mickel are now planning to rebrand their company.
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