Korean Air has been forced to apologise over an advertisement that described Kenyans as "indigenous people full of primitive energy", following outrage that erupted on the social networking website Twitter.
Kenyans took to Twitter express their anger at the ad, which is promoting Korean Air’s new flights between Seoul and the Kenyan capital of Nairobi from today.
Korean Air, which will make three round-trip flights a week on Airbus A330 jets, set out to launch its new service with an ad that read:
"Korean Air will become the first air carrier in Northeast Asia to extend flight services to Nairobi. Fly to Nairobi with Korean Air and enjoy the grand African savanna, the safari tour, and the indigenous people full of primitive energy.”
Pictures of the full advert were quickly shared on Twitter, while Kenyans also took to the social media website to mock the airline and its country, South Korea.
Kenyans also circulated contacts of the South Korean embassy in Nairobi, encouraging people to call and email to demand an apology.
Korean Air, though, eventually succumbed to the pressure, and released an official apology on their Twitter handle @KoreanAir_KE.
"Regarding our recent promotional notice of Nairobi, we are checking on this issue accordingly. We sincerely apologise for this situation".
#PrimitiveEnergy goes viral
But the debacle has fueled the #primitiveEnergy hashtag on Twitter, which has since Monday gathered momentum as a point for all sorts of characters and incidents.
For instance, #primitiveEnergy was attributed to incident in Kenya where 6 lions were killed by angry villagers.
Madonnas Syombua tweeted a picture of a man holding a dead lion, likening the incident to the biblical Samson. In the tweet, Syombua added the #primitiveEnergy hashtag with the statement “So we have Samson in Kenya”.
Kenyans on Twitter are also using the #primitiveEnergy hashtag to hit out at Northern Ireland's health minister Edwin Poots, following his controversial statement on blood donations.
“I think that people who engage in high risk sexual behavior in general should be excluded from giving blood. And so someone who has sex with somebody in Africa or sex with prostitutes, I am very reluctant about those people being able to give blood," said Poots.
The statement ignited a 'Twitterstorm' characterised with ferocious comments, and, surprisingly, the #PrimitiveEnergy hashtag.
Peter Rono tweeted: “#Poots must apologise to Africans or we use #PrimitiveEnergy 2 mke hm apologize #sexwithafricans. #Racism”
Eric Mungai posted on the social network said: “When did africans start donating blood to ireland? smh!”
The Korean Air and #Primitive Energy twitter discussions have again highlighted as to how Kenyans take to the social network to express their unhappiness over issues.
Twitter trend of venting anger
Early this year, cable network CNN found itself on the receiving end, after a news report about an explosion in Nairobi created an impression of violence, which was interpreted by Kenyans to relate to the 2008 post election violence.
The #someonetellcnn went on to trend on Twitter, forcing CNN, through its Kenya based correspondent David McKenzie to apologise.
“Our reporting on last night was accurate, the banner used in bulletin was not. I contacted CNN for future bulletins. Apologies to all,” said McKenzie
Twitter has also become a tool for Kenyans to wage war against corporate firms whose services disappoint, criticisng politicians and pushing agendas. The platform is expected to play a key role in the campaign period as Kenya heads to the 2013 presidential elections.
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