Spirit Air Invites You to Fly Down to Check Out the Oil Spill, Or Something…

Spirit, the airline which used to charge more for online bookings (“web convenience fee”), came up with the idea of charging for carry-on bags and which is known for MILF sales (“Many Islands, Low Fares”) naturally developed a tasteless ad in the wake of the BP oil spill to get me and everyone else talking about their (abysmal) product.

Ah, so the beaches they fly to have suntan oil. Ok… At least they didn’t advertise a “flood of low fares” to New Orleans after Katrina.

In other somewhat-related news, Scott McCartney points to a new ad campaign by startup Russian low cost carrier AviaNova which has funding from the same private equity firm that holds a stake in Spirit.

Now, maybe the Hooters Air model really can work, I suppose the flaw in their plan wasn’t the Hooters Girls but rather hubbing in Myrle Beach, South Carolina..

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  1. Actually, I think their marketing team is sharp. Whether you find their ads tasteless or ingenious, you remember them. Personally, I loved last week’s ad- “strikingly good deals” right after the pilot strike ended. Ha ha!

  2. Maybe the CEO of Ryanair has started mentoring the Spirit Air CEO – they both find ways to stay in the news for some of the worst ideas out there.

  3. Got to love the retro theme music. “Scooby-dee-dooby-do” sang in English with a Russian accent…priceless!

  4. ahh…. the Russian ad for AviaNova would be so much more interesting if the Russian Fire-fighters/EMT got undressed… most likely much better than the male flight attendants too! I guess we should ask the Mayor of Moscow for permission to do that however…
    Funny how a huge diverse nation like Russia only displays its fair skined Euro-population for these kind of ads.

    After the last Spirit taning oil ad I nixed those emails, funny I thought that I had opt-ed out when I first opened an account with Spirit but I guess they don’t care what you want they just spam you like Ryan Air.

  5. If by a 22 year old ad major, then he’s got talent! Look at all the press this ad is getting. I doubt it escaped Spirit that the ad smacks of non-classiness, and that was certainly the goal. Brilliant.

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