Crayola Apologizes After Hackers Post Some ‘Colorful’ Content On Its Facebook Page

Parents (and kids) who went to Crayola’s Facebook page Sunday were aghast to find the company’s social media division offering less in the way of colorful products and more in the way of naughty pictures and crude jokes, after the company’s Facebook page was hacked.

Some time on Sunday morning, Crayola tweeted that it was aware that someone had hacked the company’s Facebook account and was using it to publish offensive images.

We’re aware of the situation on our official FB page, which was hacked today, and making every effort to stop the unauthorized posts.

— Crayola (@Crayola) January 11, 2015

We don’t condone the inappropriate & offensive content being posted to the fraudulent Crayola FB page & sincerely apologize to our fans. — Crayola (@Crayola) January 12, 2015

Judging by the content of the offensive images posted to Facebook, Crayola was apparently hacked by a group of 12-year-old boys. The naughty images, consisting mainly of sophomoric sex jokes and cartoon nudity, won’t be published in this post due to Inquisitr’s quality standards. However, Ebaumsworld has saved screenshots of the jokes; you can view them here, if you’d like.

By late Sunday evening, someone in Crayola’s tech department had figured out how to defeat the nefarious antics of bored adolescents and got the company Facebook page back to something more appropriate for families and small children, according to AOL. The company then apologized via a Facebook post.

“Our sincere apologies to our Facebook community for the inappropriate and offensive posts you may have seen here today. Please be assured the official Crayola page has been restored. We can’t thank our fans enough for the feedback and support we received while working to resolve the issue … you truly are the best and we look forward to an exciting and creative 2015!”

At least one parent, however, saw the humor in the situation.

I was surprised to read Crayola has a product placement deal with 50 Shades Of Grey.

— Meh-craft (@TheAlexNevil) January 11, 2015

This is, apparently, not a good time for the toy industry’s relationship with social media. Shortly after last Christmas, Hasbro began getting complaints on their Facebook page about the Play-Doh Cake Mountain Play Set, according to this Inquisitr report. The set included a tool – an extractor – that bore a rather striking resemblance to a much different “tool” indeed. Outraged (and sometimes, amused) parents flooded the company’s Facebook page. Unlike Crayola, which admitted the problem and owned up to it, Hasbro chose instead to delete the remarks from social media and pretend the whole situation never happened.

Did you witness some of the off-color jokes that hackers put up on Crayola’s Facebook page? Share your experiences in the Comments below.

[Image courtesy of: Cool Chaser]