Malaysia Airlines Promotional Tweet Receives Backlash
A tweet from Malaysia Airlines has caused a stir on Twitter, prompting the airline service to remove the post and issue an apology for it.
According to the Associated Press, Malaysia Airlines tweeted the following on Thursday.
“Want to go somewhere, but don’t know where?”
This promotional tweet caused a backlash on Twitter.
Malaysia Airlines tweeted yesterday, “Want to go somewhere, but don’t know where?” Seriously? I think they need a new marketing agency. WTF?
— Mickie Ford (@Mickie_Ford) November 28, 2014
Oh no, Malaysia Airlines has done it again with it’s: “Want to go somewhere, but don’t know where” ad campaign. Cringe. They just can’t win. — Ahmad Lala (@ahmadlala619) November 28, 2014
Malaysia Airlines removed the tweet on Friday and has since issued an apology.
@Tangogirl324 Our tweet was intended to inspire travellers to explore deals offered. We apologize for any offence caused & have removed it!
— Malaysia Airlines (@MAS) November 28, 2014
As the Inquisitr previously reported, Malaysia Airlines had two separate and tragic incidents this year involving its planes. The first was the disappearance of MH370, which was carrying 239 people. There has still been no sighting of the plane since it went missing.
The second was the shooting down of Flight 17 over Ukraine. All 298 passengers on board that flight were killed in the crash.
This tweet is not the first time that Malaysia Airlines has made a bad marketing move following the two incidents. Back in September, the South China Morning Post reported that the airline service created a contest called “My Ultimate Bucket List.” The term “bucket list” is used to describe a list of things people want to do before they die. And, considering the two incidents earlier this year, that name didn’t settle well with people.
Umm, really bad PR “Malaysia Airlines changes name of ‘bucket list’ promotion” http://t.co/WRvvcAB1no
— Dan Sondhelm (@DanSondhelm) September 10, 2014
Wow…you had ONE job marketing team. #fail “Malaysia Airlines mocked for bucket-list challenge” http://t.co/h5K0Zjc5h8
— Tynisha (@windybayou) September 7, 2014
Malaysia Airlines later renamed the contest “Win an iPad or a Malaysia Airlines flight to Malaysia.”
In the most recent quarterly report, Malaysia Airlines posted a 53 percent jump in its net loss from the previous year to $170.3 million. The airline service also announced that its quarterly revenue dropped 12 percent from the previous year to $976 million.
The latest report comes as the government gets ready to take control of Malaysian Airlines for a $1.8 billion overhaul. This restructuring will include eliminating 6,000 of the airline service’s 20,000 workers.
[Image credit: Aero Icarus via Flickr]