Supermodel's Nobel Peace Prize congratulatory tweet goes viral

It was supposed to be a message of congratulations.

Unfortunately for Naomi Campbell, it ended up being an epic fail on social media.

The English supermodel tweeted on Saturday to Pakistani teenage activist Malala Yousafzai to congratulate her on her Nobel Peace Prize win, Britain's Daily Mail reported.

She wrote: "Congratulations malaria on your #noblepeaceprize #2014 #Respect #joy #ithalljuststarted."

Campbell, 44, not only got Malala's name wrong, but also misspelt Nobel as "noble".

She also used an incorrect hashtag, which should have been #itsalljuststarted.

Her tweet was accompanied by a picture of Malala, 17, with a quote that was attributed to the teenager. Her name was correctly spelt in the image.

The quote read: "I speak not for myself but for those without voice - Those who have fought for their right to live in peace, their right to be treated with dignity, their right to equality of opportunity, their right to be educated."

Campbell's error led to the word malaria trending on Twitter.

Many netizens criticised her and questioned why she did not check the tweet before posting it or make the change afterwards.

Twitter user Bebe_02 wrote: "MALARIA? Lawd! Exact reason y more girls need 2be educated. NOBLE?"

DELETED

Campbell later deleted the message and tweeted to her 294,000 followers: 'Darlings my iPhone and I are at odds it seems I type a word it seems to spit out another, forgive me…"

She also attached the same picture of Malala, but this time with her name spelt correctly and with the correct hashtags.

Malala, who was jointly awarded the prize with children's rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, became the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate on Friday.

They were honoured for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for fighting for the right of all children to education.

Malala was shot by the Taliban in October 2012 while she and her classmates were on their way to school in Pakistan's Swat Valley.

She was flown to the UK for further medical care.

She lives in Birmingham, England, and she and Campbell worked together on social media in the campaign to rescue the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram in Nigeria.

This article was first published on Oct 13, 2014.
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