The web ad featured a bronzed and bikini-clad woman with the tagline “Check Out the Oil on Our Beaches,” as well as bottles of sun-tan lotion labelled “Best Protection†– a reference to BP, the company linked to the spill.
Spirit Airlines responded to criticism by claiming it had been misunderstood. It issued a statement saying: “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 only oil you’ll find when traveling to our beaches is sun tan oil.”
Spirit Airlines has twice before courted controversy with its adverts, first by using the acronym MILF – a slang term for attractive older women popularised in the American Pie movies – and then in 2009 by claiming: “We’re no Virgin. We’ve been cheap and easy for years.”
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