Sprint has pulled a controversial ad where a woman calls T-Mobile a “ghetto” carrier.
The ad, which featured Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure talking to a focus group about their thoughts on the mobile industry as part of a “listening tour,” included a woman saying “the first word that came to my head [when thinking of T-Mobile] is ‘ghetto.’ That sounds, like, terrible.”
The ad has been pulled, but copies of the controversial statement are available around the web, as seen above. The now-deleted video was tweeted out by Claure, who followed up with a clarification that the phrase was “maybe not the best choice of words by the customer.”
We're sharing real comments from real customers. Maybe not the best choice of words by the customer. Not meant to offend anyone.
— MarceloClaure (@marceloclaure) April 13, 2016
Surprisingly, T-Mobile CEO John Legere stayed pretty quiet about the whole thing.
@Gartenberg @dinabass @SievertMike I don't think I need to respond… ?…
— John Legere (@JohnLegere) April 13, 2016
Legere is usually outspoken, and often inflammatory, on Twitter. He’s picked fights with presidential candidates and even gotten into it with Claure before on the social network. However, today he seems content in letting Sprint’s ad speak for itself. Just don’t be surprised if he uses this ad as ammunition in a future tweetstorm against the rival carrier.