| 1 | (JOHANNESBURG) - A company famous for its pens marked a public holiday honoring women in South Africa with a Facebook post urging: "Think like a man." |
| 2 | Amid a storm of protest that the ad was sexist, Bic South Africa retracted the post and issued an apology. |
| 3 | The company had posted the message with a photo of a smiling female model on its Facebook page on Sunday, the anniversary of a 1956 march led by women who were protesting the country's white minority rule at the time. |
| 4 | "Look like a girl, Act like a lady, Think like a man, Work like a boss," the post said. |
| 5 | In a message on Facebook, Bic South Africa on Tuesday apologized for "offending everybody" and said it understood it had made a mistake. |
| 6 | The company earlier posted and then removed another apology in which it said the women's day message was meant to be empowering, South African media reported. |
| 7 | "This post should never have gone out," the company said Tuesday. |