Snapchat ad asked would you rather ‘Slap Rihanna’ or ‘Punch Chris Brown’

A disturbing advertisement slipped through the Snapchat review process, despite the ad's flippant reference to violence against women, and to Chris Brown's infamous domestic assault against his then-girlfriend Rihanna.

Screenshots of the advertisement for a "Would You Rather!" game appeared on Twitter over the weekend and into Monday. The image asks users whether they'd "Slap Rihanna" or "Punch Chris Brown," an obvious reference to the 2009 assault.

The ad caught the eye of activist Brittany Packnett and, through her, former first daughter Chelsea Clinton. She called the ad, "just awful."

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As Packnett notes, advertisements are reviewed by the team over at Snap. Per the company's official advertising policies:

"All ads are subject to our review and approval. We reserve the right to reject or remove any ad in our sole discretion for any reason. We also reserve the right to request modifications to any ad, and to require factual substantiation for any claim made in an ad."

The page also details an extensive list of "Prohibited Content," including, "Content that demeans, degrades, or shows hate toward a particular race, gender, culture, country, belief, or toward any member of a protected class."

A spokesperson from Snap tells Mashable: "The ad was reviewed and approved in error, as it violates our advertising guidelines. We immediately removed the ad last weekend, once we became aware. We are sorry that this happened."

Update: On Thursday, Rihanna publicly called out Snap for allowing the advertisement to appear on its platform, and refused the company's original apology.

"Throw the whole app-oligy away," she wrote in a statement.

A new statement from Snap provided to Mashable via a company spokesperson reads:

"This advertisement is disgusting and never should have appeared on our service. We are so sorry we made the terrible mistake of allowing it through our review process. We are investigating how that happened so that we can make sure it never happens again."