Spirit Air's slimy new campaign

The airline makes light of the Gulf disaster -- too soon?

By Mary Elizabeth Williams

Senior Writer

Published June 23, 2010 7:34PM (EDT)

Spirit Air's new advertising campaign
Spirit Air's new advertising campaign

Fly Spirit! The airline owned and operated by horny 12-year-old boys! That's right – those acrostic loving cutups who gave you a MILF campaign (Many Islands, Low Fares, of course)  and an offer to go MUFF Diving (Many Unbelievably Fantastic Fares -- what did you think they meant?) are back, and this time, they'd like you to take a gander at the oil on their beaches. Expecting to see gooey pelicans or ravaged coastlines? Oh, pshaw! No, Spirit can send you to nice places, like San Juan and Atlantic City, where the only oil you'll find is on the abundantly exposed and frighteningly bronzed flesh of sexy little beach bunnies. In the new promos running on Spirit's website, a quartet of hotties beckons you, with sunscreen bottles in a familiar shade of kelly green and yellow, to a land of BP. That's Best Protection, get it?

It's not often you get a campaign that manages to combine grotesque sexism, spectacular environmental insensitivity and low, low airfares, so hats off to you, Spirit. That your Cancun lady also has the most troubling breast augmentation we've ever seen only adds to the deep feelings of despair your promotion inspires. We may never have understood the connection between MILFs, muff diving and air transportation, but we'll grant that your previous juvenile attempts at humor didn't offend us so much either. But using the Gulf disaster and a bunch of slicked-up honeys to promote your fares? We'll try to spell it out in terms you might understand: you're Going Really Overboard, So Stop.


By Mary Elizabeth Williams

Mary Elizabeth Williams is a senior writer for Salon and author of "A Series of Catastrophes & Miracles."

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