After recent news broke that nude photos of celebrities had been hacked, Spirit Airlines jumped at the chance to use the story for its own marketing efforts, sending a “Bare Fare” email to promote discounted rates.
While Spirit said its “Bare Fare” promo was launched in May, the company wasted no time attaching its campaign to the nude-photo scandal for its own gains.
EOnline.com shared the following image of the Spirit Airlines email that was distributed yesterday:
The illustration in the email header is more than enough to question Spirit’s creative direction, but the copy is even worse: “We feel naked; you were never supposed to see this Bare Fare! It was meant for a special someone (who isn’t you). Now it’s all over the Internet for you to take advantage of as you see fit.”
In response to the flack it has received over the email, a Spirit Airlines spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal that the promotion was not meant to be offensive. Spirit claims it was only having fun, but the brand’s attempt at clarifying its marketing efforts only reinforces the misogynistic tone of the email – and by extension, the brand.
We have a long history of taking major national news stories and tying them to our marketing. Most people think they are funny and accept them for what they are. We accept that a small group of people might not think the same way. Spirit Airlines Spokesperson
That “small group” of people included FastCompany.com who awarded Spirit Airlines “The Worst Brand Tweet of the Week” after it captured the following “Bare Fare” tweet before it was deleted:
The brand is also taking a beating on Twitter, with tweets like the following filling up its feed:
Hey @SpiritAirlines, here’s how you apologize: 1) Accept responsibility for your mistake 2) Acknowledge its impact 3) Pledge to do better. — Trista Winnie (@tristawinnie) September 4, 2014
Such marketing tactics fall in line with Spirit’s previous efforts. Earlier this year, Marketing Land covered the airline’s “Embrace the Hate” campaign, which highlighted a number of tweets the brand had received from unhappy consumers.
Of course, should Spirit Airlines decide to relaunch its “Embrace the Hate” campaign, the last 24-hours worth of tweets to the brand has provided more than enough user generated content.
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