Indian techie faces racism from Canadian brand, company pays $10,000 in compensation

Dbrand, a company known for its smartphone accessories and its bold and often provocative social media presence, recently found itself in a controversy after a racist remark directed at a customer's last name. The incident involved a customer named Bhuwan Chitransh who complained that a MacBook skin he purchased from Dbrand changed colour after two months. 

The skin, Chitransh wrote, had lost its colour within just two months. "⁦@dbrand⁩ bought this skin a couple months back. Couldn't even remain the same color after just 2 months. What should I do?#dbrandcomplaint," wrote Chitransh on X, formerly Twitter

Dbrand responded with a comment poking fun at the techie’s name. Chitransh and others on X called out the racist comment by the Canadian company, especially towards Indian customers.

Recognizing the mistake, Dbrand issued an apology to Chitransh the next day, describing the incident as a "huge fumble," and offered him $10,000 as a gesture of goodwill. Despite the apology, the original post remained online until prominent tech tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee criticised the company for not removing it, stating that it caused "unnecessary" harm and created a platform for hateful discourse. Dbrand later deleted the tweet after Brownlee's remarks.

@dbrand Won't be working with dbrand until that original tweet is deleted, at least. You're allowed to make shitty jokes, but the internet has made it pretty clear what it think about this one, and the harm from it is unnecessary

I've been around long enough to see a LOT of…

— Marques Brownlee (@MKBHD) April 11, 2024

According to a report by The Verge, Dbrand's CEO, Adam Ijaz admitted that the comment was a ‘severe lapse in judgment’ and acknowledged that Brownlee's involvement helped the company reflect more critically on their actions. Ijaz stated that Dbrand has been engaging in playful banter on social media for over a decade but plans to continue its satirical style without crossing into insensitivity in the future.