Canva Gets Into Rap: Gets Roasted

Australian graphic design company Canva has gone viral for the wrong reasons after putting on a rap that went viral and criticised for being “cringe”.

The design firm recently hosted a conference in LA to commemorate its tenth year and showcased new products coming to the app soon. To highlight the launch of new products on the app, a group of breakdancers wearing beige jumpsuits took to the stage before launching into a rap about Canva’s “glow up.”

“I’d like to have some certainty,” a woman portraying the sceptical chief information officer said in the middle of the rap. “Nice that you’ve got some pretty shiny things, but can you meet the demands of a global machine?”

In response, the male rapper discussed automated licencing and complacency, KPIs, and privacy regarding upcoming AI models.

The two-minute rap video ends with the lines, “Now we are on the rise, cause Canva does it all, and we feelin’ all right. Let’s go!”

You can watch the video below.

Canva’s conference event-meets-rap video has gone viral in the last few days, with one person quipping on X (formerly known as Twitter), “This is why Australian companies should stop hiring Americans.”

While the video seemed unpopular for many, some didn’t hate it, with another X user writing, “Canva gets it. Rap is so in right now.”

Another X user called it the “pre-cursor to the most toxic workplace experience ever,” with a separate user saying, “This hurt to watch.”

In response to the viral video (and subsequent criticism), Canva founder Cliff Obrecht wrote “haters gonna hate” in a LinkedIn post.

“Our enterprise rap was my favourite part of Canva create BY FAR,” Obrecht began. “Tech company product launches have essentially tried to be Steve Jobs launching the iPhone since that happened.

“We decided to be ourselves, do something different and not take ourselves too seriously. Haters gonna hate. I hope, like this guy suggests, others add more entertainment value to their corporate events, too. We certainly just getting started.”

this is why australian companies should stop hiring americans pic.twitter.com/qVsy38aUx9

— des (@dotnetschizo) May 26, 2024