Following the British Museum's social media gaffe in March, Aimee Dawson examines how arts organisations might best handle themselves in the eye of a critical storm.
The British Museum had a social media meltdown last month. On 3 March, it re-posted a video on its TikTok and Instagram channels that read: “Girlies, if you’re single and looking for a man, this is your sign to go to the British Museum’s new exhibition, Life in the Roman Army, and walk around looking confused. You’re welcome x.”
The meme, capturing the British Museum’s show Legion: Life in the Roman Army (until 23 June), was originally posted on TikTok in February by a female content creator, @hrhgeorgiana. The video riffs on a trend on the app of asking men how often they pondered the Roman Empire, and another trend about women looking for suitors by acting confused at hardware stores.
The video did not hit right - particularly not on Instagram, where it was immediately decried as sexist. The British Museum responded in the comments section, explaining that “mansplaining is the butt of the joke… we can assure you that we are *not* actually suggesting that women need to look for dates or pretend to be stupid!” It later deleted the posts altogether and released an official apology... Keep reading on The Art Newspaper.
The British Museum had a social media meltdown last month. On 3 March, it re-posted a video on its TikTok and Instagram channels that read: “Girlies, if you’re single and looking for a man, this is your sign to go to the British Museum’s new exhibition, Life in the Roman Army, and walk around looking confused. You’re welcome x.”
The meme, capturing the British Museum’s show Legion: Life in the Roman Army (until 23 June), was originally posted on TikTok in February by a female content creator, @hrhgeorgiana. The video riffs on a trend on the app of asking men how often they pondered the Roman Empire, and another trend about women looking for suitors by acting confused at hardware stores.
The video did not hit right - particularly not on Instagram, where it was immediately decried as sexist. The British Museum responded in the comments section, explaining that “mansplaining is the butt of the joke… we can assure you that we are *not* actually suggesting that women need to look for dates or pretend to be stupid!” It later deleted the posts altogether and released an official apology... Keep reading on The Art Newspaper.