New Spirit Airlines Ad Makes Light of BP Oil Spill

spiritair.com

Only days after having resolved a pilot strike, low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines unveiled today an ill-considered promotion advertising discounted fares to certain beach destinations that appears to make light of the Gulf oil spill.

The online slideshow ad, which is still up on the airline's homepage, begins with the slogan "Check Out The Oil On Our Beaches" written on the screen and then flips through slides of bikini-clad women supposedly on the beaches of Cancun, San Juan, Atlantic City and Ft. Lauderdale.

The spot then ends on an image of a green bottle of sun tan oil that reads "BEST PROTECTION $50* OFF", with the 'B' and 'P' highlighted in yellow, a clear reference to the BP oil company. Customers who click on the ad are taken to a screen with a message that reads in part, "Check out the oil on our beaches. You won't be disappointed."

Asked for comment, the airline made clear that it was standing by its ad, saying in a statement, "It is unfortunate that some have misunderstood our intention with today's beach promotion. We are merely addressing the false perception that we have oil on our beaches, and we are encouraging customers to support Florida and our other beach destinations by continuing to travel to these vacation hot spots."

"We are excited to continue offering customers huge savings with specials like today's offer promoting travel to our many beach destinations," the statement continued. "The only oil you'll find when traveling to our beaches is sun tan oil."

CBSNews.com Special Report: Disaster in the Gulf

Carter Yang is a Washington-based producer for the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. He covers aviation, transportation, and Homeland Security.

[rwsmith29456]

That's supposed to be FUNNY???????????????? Durn.

[zebra8835]

Does anyone know if their pilots have returned to fly for them yet since the strike or did they get "oiled" too?

[markmazza]

We are an ignorant animal, aren't we.

[EllaCowin]

>:(

Really, Spirit Airlines? Shame on you.

[smoknmirrors]

They overlooked the snake oil they are selling. I guess if you can laugh about eleven dead people, you've got the right Spirit.

[biglad69]

C'mon people...lighten up.

[3waymirror]

Lighten up?? This is the greatest environmental disaster in our nations history, and it's not over yet! What is wrong with you?

[auflyer06]

This is nowhere near the greatest environmental disaster in this country. Doesn't compare yet to the Dust Bowl, the Johnstown Flood, or even Hurricane Katrina, which also caused oil leaks. A tragedy for sure and it's not getting better, but yes lighten up. We were lucky that only 11 people died in this disaster. With that said, drilling should be stopped until we can figure out the what and the why something went wrong. Doesn't mean drilling should be stopped forever...it just means we should learn from the mistakes made.

[3waymirror]

They don't seem very sensitive to the feelings of the people being affected by this oil disaster, not to mention all those sea creatures that are suffering. Isn't this the same airline that is charging for carryon luggage?

[junebug1965]

Not funny to make light of so many people's homes & livelihoods being ruined. Not to mention the never-ending natural disaster this is. Very callous.