In a PR blunder that could rival Don Matrick telling the world that those who don’t like Xbox One can stick with an Xbox 360, THQ Nordic partook in an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on one of the internet’s major s***posting sites: 8chan. As you can imagine, 8chan is a home for conspiracy theories, child pornography, hate speech, and far-right wing rhetoric.
In addition, 8chan has been home for the online hate group Gamergate and has been known to be a place where users will swat (the act of calling a swat team to a person’s home, typically while they are streaming live on the internet for the world to see) social justice warriors.
THQ Nordic’s PR Director took to Twitter to explain and apologize to all of their fans and followers for their grave mistake.
"I personally agreed to this AMA without doing my proper due diligence to understand the history and the controversy of the site. I do not condone child pornography, white supremacy, or racism in any shape or form. (…)
— THQ Nordic (@THQNordic) February 26, 2019
This was not about being edgy, this blew up and I very much regret to have done it in the first place."
Philipp Brock, PR & Marketing Director THQ Nordic GmbH (Vienna, Austria)
— THQ Nordic (@THQNordic) February 26, 2019
Maybe next time they’ll just stick to Reddit? Let’s hope so.
