Lululemon learned a very valuable lesson on Thursday: You poke the Beyhive, you’re going to get stung.
The athletic apparel company was forced to back down on Twitter after Beyonce fans descended on the company over a playful dig about the singer’s new athletic line, Ivy Park.
As is often the case with such matters, it started out innocently enough, with Lululemon responding to one tweeter’s question over whether Ivy Park is intended to resemble Lululemon’s line.
“They do say imitation is the best form of flattery,” the company responded on Twitter. “Maybe Beyonce is so Crazy in Love with our brand, she made her own.”
Needless to say, Beyonce fans, who tend to be a passionate lot, weren’t so “Crazy in Love” with the answer.
“This is going to end so, so poorly,” a Twitterati member named Michael McGeary noted.
“No harm or foul was meant by this,” Lululemon responded. “We’re huge fans of hers.”
“This was a mistake. I’m sure you wanna retract this,” another critic chimed in.
“We hear you. We never meant any harm with the original post,” the company again insisted.
But by then, it was too late. The wrath had been incurred.
“‘Thanks for the call out, ‘no harm meant’ says @lululemon but doesn’t take down the tweet …. hmmmmm,” one tweeter noted.
At which point, Lululemon went into damage-control mode, responding, “We hear you, and it’s been deleted.”
Whew; all that backpedaling is a workout for anyone.
Now that that’s settled, watch a promo clip for the Ivy Park line below. It’ll raise your pulse, and you won’t even have to get out of your chair.
@mdmcgeary No harm or foul was meant by this. We’re huge fans of hers.
— lululemon athletica (@lululemon) March 31, 2016
@MikelleStreet We hear you, and it’s been deleted.
— lululemon athletica (@lululemon) March 31, 2016
@MafiaPrincessM We hear you. We never meant any harm with the original post.
— lululemon athletica (@lululemon) March 31, 2016
@sailorpandaxo No harm meant, we’re big fans.
— lululemon athletica (@lululemon) March 31, 2016
@AbzSalmeron We hear you, thanks for calling us out.
— lululemon athletica (@lululemon) March 31, 2016
@OJTheNigerian We’ll own that. We’re huge fans of hers and never meant any harm.
— lululemon athletica (@lululemon) March 31, 2016
@HonorableSo We heard where everyone was coming from and took it down.
— lululemon athletica (@lululemon) March 31, 2016