For a company that makes money by knowing its way around, Uber apparently doesn’t know too much about the flag of one country it operates in. In an attempt to celebrate Puerto Rican Flag Day, the company accidently posted a Facebook ad with the wrong flag. The posts including images of the Cuban flag, not the Puerto Rican flag, have since been deleted.
As one user pointed out, the ride service could have avoided the error by reading a description of the Shutterstock photo used. Sure the flags have some similarities: they both use the colors red, white, and blue. Of course the same could be said about the U.S. flag, and anyone with Google could have checked before posting.
Uber continues to have a hard time trying to come back after a rough year. Co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick stepped down after a number of scandals. Before Kalanick left the company, a board member also resigned after making sexist jokes during a meeting. A former engineer shared her experience with a mismanaged sexual harassment claim. Footage of Kalanick berating one of his drivers also surfaced.
The flag incident seems small compared to these previous Uber fails, but it's one that should remind the company to always think, or Google, before it speaks.