Last year at this time, Delta joined the anti-second amendment mob and announced it was ending discounts for NRA members.
The Georgia Senate promptly ended the corporation’s generous tax breaks.
Just in time for Valentine’s Day and in a marketing move nearly as full of fail as the NRA stunt, Delta Air Lines has apologized for creepy in-flight napkins that invited passengers to write their phone number to pass onto their “plane crush.”
The airlines said in a statement that it was already in the process of removing the offending Diet Coke napkins from flights even before a social media outcry from passengers.“We rotate Coke products regularly as part of our brand partnership, but missed the mark with this one,” Delta Air Lines said in the statement to USA TODAY. “We are sorry for that and began removing the napkins from our aircraft in January.”Coca Cola echoed the sentiments with its own statement:”We sincerely apologize to anyone we may have offended. We worked with our partners at Delta to begin removing the napkins last month and are replacing them with other designs.”
A look at the reactions confirm that the was result was…unexpected.
On the other hand, there were a few fans of the napkins.
One has to wonder about the age and practical marketing experience of both the Delta and Coke teams. This approach has all the earmarks of millennials addicted to social media, unaware of normal personal boundaries usually implemented in human interactions.
On one side of the napkin it read, “Because you’re on a plane with interesting people and hey…you never know.” The other side had space to write down a name and phone number, with the additional text, “Be a little old school. Write down your number and give it to your plane crush. You never know…”Delta passengers apparently did not take kindly to the approach, and dozens wrote to the brands on social media, calling the stunt “creepy.”
The good news for Delta: The napkins are still not nearly as bad as the spectacular advertising disaster that Gillette created with its “The Best Men Can Be” campaign.
However, the year is still young and social justice orienting marketing teams are hard at work…so expect even more advertising disasters until common sense and good taste return.
Meanwhile, enjoy a very happy Valentine’s Day with your real “crush”.
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