Audi pulled its RS 4 ad of a girl eating a banana after a sexism backlash

A tweet campaign meant to demonstrate the RS 4's calm composure instead sparked two readings the brand never planned: innuendo, and a road-safety complaint that a driver would not be able to see the child.

The intended idea, per Audi: show that even the most vulnerable people can rest and relax thanks to the sports technology in the Audi RS 4.

The image and slogan ran on Audi's Twitter account; after critics called it suggestive and demanded withdrawal, Audi tweeted a public apology, pledged the image would not be used in future, and announced it would examine internally how the campaign had been created and whether control mechanisms had failed.

The original post drew more than 1,000 retweets and international coverage; a counter-chorus argued that anyone seeing 'eroticism' in it should examine their own imagination.

On 3 August 2020, German car manufacturer Audi tweeted an ad for its red high-performance RS 4 showing a little girl eating a banana in front of the car, under the marketing slogan 'Lets your heart beat faster - in every aspect'. The combination of image and line read as suggestive to many viewers, and the post drew an immediate negative response.

Critics called for the ad's immediate withdrawal; others raised a separate safety objection — that a car parked that close to a child implied a driver unable to see her. A counter-argument also spread: those who saw 'eroticism' in a child eating fruit should wonder about their own imagination. The original post was retweeted more than 1,000 times.

Audi's response came within days: 'We sincerely apologize for this insensitive image and ensure that it will not be used in future,' the company tweeted. It explained the original intent — 'to show that even the most vulnerable people can rest and relax thanks to the sports technology in the Audi RS 4' — and announced an internal examination of how the campaign had been created and whether control mechanisms had failed.

The failure was pairing, not concept: a benign intent plus a heart-rate slogan produced a second meaning the approval process never saw coming.

The apology and internal review became part of the story — a case of a brand treating an ad failure as a controls failure rather than blaming the audience.

The split reaction shows how uncontrollable image interpretation is at scale: the same picture generated a sexism row, a safety row and a defence of the audience's innocence simultaneously.

An image's second reading outranks its first: pre-flight the worst interpretation of a visual before publishing, because the internet will find it for you at your cost.

Audi apologized publicly, promised the image would never be used again and opened an internal review of the campaign's creation and approval controls. Euronews covered the apology on 5 August 2020; no further details of the review's findings were reported in the coverage.