ChapStick brand is experiencing what experts like to call a social media sh*tstorm.

Last week, the company posted an image on its Facebook page of a woman bent over a couch with her butt in the air. She’s looking for her ChapStick. Some called the image sexist, including this blogger, triggering an outpouring of criticism on the company’s Facebook page.

Instead of responding, ChapStick deleted the comments—and then the situation snowballed from there as even more nasty comments piled on the page. Soon, a number of bloggers and mainstream media outlets were writing about it.

Obviously, ChapStick should have responded immediately, either defending the image or removing it and apologizing. After all, the company’s ads do say, “Be heard at Facebook.com/ChapStick.”

After the bruising, ChapStick on Wednesday afternoon removed the image from its Facebook page and issued this apology:

“We see that not everyone likes our new ad, and please know that we certainly didn’t mean to offend anyone! Our fans and their voices are at the heart of our new advertising campaign, but we know we don’t always get it right. We’ve removed the image and will share a newer ad with our fans soon!

“We apologize that fans have felt like their posts are being deleted and while we never intend to pull anyone’s comments off our wall, we do comply with Facebook guidelines and remove posts that use foul language, have repetitive messaging, those that are considered spam-like (multiple posts from a person within a short period of time) and are menacing to fans and employees.”

Ray Kerins, head of global media relations at ChapStick parent company Pfizer, told Adweek that the company is “committed to listening.”

“This is a perfect example of listening to your followers, your fans,” he said. “We're trying to live by those words."