In a miscalculated move, a promotional tweet from Uber on Sunday has gotten many in the Philippines shaking their fists at the ride-sharing company.
The tweet has now been deleted, but Uber tweeted out a promotion on Sunday on the eve of a planned jeepney strike, offering free trips to users "affected by the activities tomorrow."
Credit: TwitterJeepneys are modified minibuses common in the Philippines, commonly used by the masses for public transportation. 40 percent of intra-city commutes in Manila are taken on jeepneys.
A jeepney minibus.Credit: DELA PENA/EPA/REX/ShutterstockThe jeepney strike was organised to protest a government order to phase out old jeeps, and new hoops for jeepney operators to jump through, Rapplerreports.
SEE ALSO:'Humans of Payatas' features inspiring stories about people living in its slumsFilipinos reacted strongly to the tweet, slamming the San Francisco-based company for not learning from its recent bad press when it tweeted a promo during a taxi strike in the U.S.:
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Not everyone was against Uber, though, with some Filipinos angry at the jeepney operators on strike:
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By Monday morning, some Filipino users said they were still receiving promo codes from Uber:
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Uber Philippines also tweeted in response to queries that the promo codes in question were valid within Manila and Cebu, where the strikes were expected to happen.
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Uber confirmed that it's still running the promo, but addressed the backlash in a tweet on Monday saying: "It was not our intention to undermine upcoming events in any way, and we apologize for appearing to do so."
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UPDATE: Feb. 27, 2017, 4:08 p.m. SGT Updated with Uber's confirmation that it's still running the promo.
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