Did Spirit Airlines cross the line with its Secret Service ad?

By {/%BYLINE%} {%AUTHOR%}Alan Pearcy{/%AUTHOR%} {%TITLE%}Did Spirit Airlines cross the line with its Secret Service ad?{/%TITLE%} {%ALTERNATIVEURL%}{/%ALTERNATIVEURL%} {%IMAGE%}/Uploads/Public/spirit-airlines-bang-for-your-buck.jpg{/%IMAGE%} {%ROLE%}87d65c27-6e78-4e5c-b423-78d47d4f2768{/%ROLE%} {%KICKER%}Writing, Editing{/%KICKER%} {%CATEGORIESID%}e8e0f32d-5d24-41be-86cc-a8fd29cc4619, 055d8a23-ee23-4f9c-a2f4-df030843f312, 9b04de1d-f7bc-4de7-842e-c9c833ff24e9, 1fd4d0a9-bbe2-4b5c-af5c-11dce5b9983e, 5b5f5480-7a63-458a-90a4-0b98007ec3f7{/%CATEGORIESID%} {%CAPTION%}The gimmicky airline pulled the ad parodying Colombian prostitution scandal, issued an apology. Plus, Urban Outfitters offends Jewish community, Helen Keller-branded eyewear, Vogue Spain’s rip-off of an Instagram account, ‘The Simpsons’ jab Fox News,, more.{/%CAPTION%} {%BODYCOPY%}Let’s just rename Spirit Airlines “Britney Spears,” because—oops—it did it again. Already known for its love of puns, gimmicky, sometimes controversial advertising, the latest effort from the discount carrier parodying the Secret Service prostitution scandal perhaps went too far. Spirit pulled the ad, in addition to offering an apology. Reading “More Bang for Your Buck,” the promotion offered one-way flight fares to Cartagena, Colombia for as low as $19.80. Speaking of gimmicky advertising, check out this billboard in South Atlanta by Racquel Bailey, an aspiring actress who’s out to be the next Tyler Perry Presents … you fill in the blank. It seems Spirit wasn’t the only company that found itself in familiar, controversial waters. Urban Outfitters, a retailer that’s already ignited fires with Native Americans, the LGBT community,, the Irish, can now add people of Jewish heritage to the list. The clothier has drawn criticism from the Anti-Defamation League for selling a T-shirt adorned with a design comparable to the Star of David—the kind that the Nazis forced Jewish people to wear. Meanwhile, an eyewear brand in China could soon catch heat for deciding to name its line of sunglasses after notable deaf, blind figure Helen Keller. I wouldn’t expect to hear an apology from Urban Outfitters or the Chinese eyewear brand, but they’re not the only ones keeping apologies under wraps. The New York Times explains that while newspapers often issue retractions, their counterparts on television stay mum when it comes to correcting journalistic errors. Although the ingredient wasn’t specified on the alleged secret menu, Starbucks has decided to appease its vegan faultfinders by recanting its use of crushed beetles to dye its Strawberries, Crème Frappuccino. Don’t get crushed has always been the name of the game when it came to playing Frogger, but now the arcade classic has received a Fifth Avenue facelift.   Speaking of facelifts, CollegeHumor hilariously showcases how to give the ordinarily boring Facebook profile page an inspired Instagram makeover. Vogue Spain’s social media team, on the other hand, provides an example of how a brand should NOT use Instagram,, by that, we mean to rip off the work of a famed New York-based street photographer. And amid the rise of a social networking-crazed generation, some products must fall. 24/7 Wall St. touches on eight such products that people will no longer buy. Something we didn’t buy,, that has landed daily discount site Groupon in trouble again, is a deal it offered for a tour of Kink.com, a local porn studio in San Francisco. Speaking of the city by the bay, because it was such a proponent of banning the Happy Meal, it would probably agree with Advertising Age’s observation that in these modern days, Ronald McDonald, his cohorts are to obesity, fast food what Joe Camel was to lung cancer, the tobacco industry. If Ronald is the new face of our nation’s dietary dilemma, who is the voice of American politics today? Where news columnists of the 1960s (such as Joseph Alsop) were once trusted advisories of presidents, government leaders, the continuous chatter of the blogosphere today has made it impossible for an irrefutable opinion on such matters to exist. One of those competing voices is certainly Fox News, although even one of the network’s own shows, “The Simpsons,” seems to get its news elsewhere. The cartoon took a less than subtle jab at the news outlet while simultaneously congratulating its shared parent company on 25 years of broadcasting. {/%BODYCOPY%} {%ID%}11449{/%ID%} {%DATAID%}6a4be482-2731-4236-8646-e2150167ba58{/%DATAID%} {%CanonicalUrl%}{/%CanonicalUrl%} {%PUBLISHDATE%}4/24/2012 1:47:39 PM{/%PUBLISHDATE%} {%LINK%}https://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/11449.aspx{/%LINK%} {%BYLINE%} Nick Papagiannis
April 24, 2012