I’m not sure if there’s anyone minding the brand at Spirit Airlines. If there is, they have their heads in the sand, not at 30,000 feet. We all know Spirit. They are the geniuses that brought us the “pay for carry-on” idea. They show up in the news all the time with passenger dissatisfaction, employee upheavals, and general bad PR. But their foray today into the mindset of “any PR is good PR” is unconscionable. Clearly, this is a company that has no regard for the power of brand touchpoints.

Spirit Airlines Online Ad

I am a brand strategist and have been a marketing professional for the past 25 years. I’m not sure of the last time I saw such a display of bad taste in marketing. Today, Spirit launched a campaign touting its “Check out the oil on our beaches” campaign. The campaign shows a series of beaches in locations Spirit flies to. I didn’t think it was possible to outdo BP’s lack of PR and marketing prowess. Really? Are you kidding me, Spirit Airlines?

A little research informed me that Spirit’s CEO loves shock-value marketing. CEO Ben Baldanza says Spirit has cut its marketing and distribution expenses by more than 80% during the past three years “by using edgy viral marketing.” The savings have resulted in very inexpensive fares, he says. Spirit’s advertising “may be more colorful than some,” but it isn’t “out of the norm” when compared with many retailers’ ads, Super Bowl commercials and the content of TV series, Baldanza says. Well, I think it’s time to start spending some money on a brand marketing and PR agency that can knock some sense into this inane approach to marketing.

I have to cry foul. This is, to use your terminology, out of the norm, Mr. Baldanza. It’s shameful. Offensive. And an assault to the people, like me, who are proud of the impact brand marketing has had in building businesses, adding jobs and fueling the economy. Millions of people in the Gulf states are worrying every day and night about where their next dime will come from. The environmental impact of this spill is nauseating. And you, Spirit Airlines, want to make fun of it for the PR value?

Yet here I am, writing about it and giving them the PR visibility they would hope for. Well here’s my PR, Spirit Airlines: I will never fly your airline. I will tell everyone I can about this. And I will use my company’s communication platform to be sure the word gets out.

This campaign does nothing to represent the American Spirit I grew up with and my father fought for in WWII. I’m just one brand marketer, but I’m taking a stand. I encourage anyone reading this to do so as well by writing Spirit and keeping your dollars far away from them, now and forever. Let’s not let this tasteless approach to brand building win, low fares or not.

I was talking to a friend in Atlanta the other day who also happens to own an agency. I said, “Let’s get some friends together and go to the beach on the Florida Gulf Coast, support these folks down there and bring some much-needed money to the region. She jumped at the idea. Oh yes, we’re going. It’s the American thing to do. But you can be sure we won’t be traveling on Spirit Airlines to get there. Or anywhere. Their brand has no value as far as I’m concerned.