Belvedere Vodka is facing severe backlash over a questionable ad.
The company posted the ad to its Facebook page on Saturday, according to Jezebel. The image depicted a woman looking horrified while a man grabs her from behind. Text on the image read, "Unlike some people, Belvedere always goes down smoothly."
Immediately after Jezebel posted the ad, bloggers and commenters launched a firestorm of attacks against the company, arguing that the image was making light of sexual assault.
"This is the most awful piece of promotional material I've seen published in the last several months, if not years," Amy Tennery of the Jane Dough wrote.
Business Insider called the image, "disgusting."
Though Belvedere has since removed the post and issued several apologies, the backlash still continues.
One Twitter user reacted to apology, "FAIL. Never touching your product ever again."
"Belvedere Vodka, your apology is insufficient as it does not accept responsibility for promoting rape-culture," wrote one commentator on the company's Facebook page.
As Forbes put it, "If you find yourself rushing to take down an ad that could be interpreted as making light of rape, you're doing internet marketing wrong."
Check out the ad below and let us know what you think.
