First and foremost I want to say that we are not PC people here at Branded. I’m sure you know that by now but I feel like I had to put that out there. So we get it, people make mistakes, it happens. That’s life 101. With that being said.
Fuck this guy.
Little back story here. This is Michael Valor, he is the CEO, owner, operator, and whatever else he lists off in the beginning of his “apology” video of Valor Media. Recently Valor was working with a burger place, Zburger, on their marketing. Someone from his company was running a marketing twitter campaign and sent the below tweet:
Under the tweet was this picture of James Foley with the words “You Disgrace Me.”
If you don’t know who James Foley is, he was a freelance journalist that covered the Syrian Civil War. In 2012 he was abducted by ISIS and two years later he was beheaded and the footage was uploaded to youtube. This photo that Valor media decided to use was taken right before his kidnapping. The fact that Valor would use any picture of a person CLEARLY in a war setting is beyond me. Just a stupid decision.
HBO did an amazing documentary on James Foley entitled Jim. I highly highly HIGHLY recommend it. James Foley was more than just a man filming a war, he was an american hero. The doc shows how brave and strong he was for not only himself but others.
So back to Valor. After it was quickly realized how much of a huge fuck up this was Michael Valor took to twitter to offer his apology.
Part 1 : Valor Media Apology #DC #Washingtonian #news @washingtonian @willsommer pic.twitter.com/ipU5yETLF8
— Michael Valor (@ValorCorp) July 23, 2018
There are 3 parts but this tweet pretty much sums it up perfectly.
Let me break this down: humble brag, humble brag, justification, justification, justification, humble brag, justification, half-assed apology, potential solution, humble brag, justification. đŸ™„
— Cristine (@Owl_ofthewoods) July 25, 2018
I will reiterate, not a PC guy but this apology is God awful and just flat out disrespectful. Just treating it like a big joke and moving your hands around like you’re in a rap video. And the part where he says he’s 23 and brags, get the fuck out of my face with this dude. When people say they hate millennials, this is the image that pops in their head. There aren’t even any jokes to be made here. This kid, and he is just that, a punk kid, has zero respect or remorse for what his company has done. I’ve made plenty of mistakes, especially at age 23 but you don’t treat the apology like you’re about to start a 90’s power hour. Show some respect.
You really want to make things right? Apologize to Diane Foley, mother of a hero who had to witness her son being killed, as you were probably in your dorm room watching it on your computer making dumb jokes to your douche bag friends. Also I’d strongly recommend making a large donation to the Foley Foundation, if they will even accept your money which I hope they don’t.
I am very saddened that @Zburger would be so insensitive and ignorant of others’ pain while marketing their hamburger.
I look forward to hearing an apology from Peter Tabibian and Michael Valor and their promised donation to the foundation #inspiring moral courage.
-Diane Foley
— JamesFoleyFoundation (@JamesFoleyFund) July 24, 2018
Featured Image – Michael Valor Twitter