Airlines pull ad campaigns in wake of US terrorist attacks

Airlines moved swiftly to pull their advertising and promotions for transatlantic flights, following a series of unprecedented terrorist attacks in the US on Tuesday 11 September.

British Airways dropped its worldwide advertising within hours of hijacked aircraft crashing into New York’s World Trade Center and into the Pentagon at Washington.

As Marketing Week went to press Virgin Airlines confirmed it had made a decision to pull its current campaign. Bmi also confirmed it had cancelled campaigns, while newspaper promotions planned by budget airline Go and American Airlines have been postponed.

BMP DDB was creating a promotion for American Airlines and The Guardian. The planes that crashed into the World Trade Center were American Airlines-owned.

Go’s reduced-price promotion was scheduled to run with The Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph and break this weekend.

All advertising for the promotion has been stopped with the exception of a voucher mailing, which included details of the offer that has already been sent to some readers. The recipients will be contacted and informed of the postponement.