Visit Kent, the county’s tourism champions, were pleased to learn that easyJet, the budget airline, had withdrawn its controversial advertising campaign with the strapline “This year end up in Malaga, not Margate”.
Lynnette Crisp, head of marketing for Visit Kent, said:
“Clearly easyJet’s ad agency had never been to Margate recently otherwise they would have known that it is a far superior destination to Malaga.
“I do hope they are able to visit soon and discover our world class culture at Turner Contemporary, our golden sands, our fabulous sunsets, our new galleries and boutique restaurants in the Old Town not to mention fun attractions for all the family. We would be delighted to welcome their team and show them round the town.
“I’m sure too that they never intended to offend anyone and just thought the two names gave them a nice bit of alliteration.”
M&C Saatchi – the creative force behind Visit Kent’s Kent Contemporary campaign were quick off the mark in designing a response to the controversial easyJet ad.
“It is not our style because we take tourism very seriously but if easyJet had persisted with its campaign we might have considered using the Margate not Malaga image at appropriate UK airports or even in Spain,” said Mrs Crisp.
easyJet withdrew the adverts at the start of the week stating:
“There was no intended criticism of the town, but of course, we apologise to any residents of Margate who have been offended by the campaign. easyJet took the decision to cease running the ads.”
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