As part of a new advertising campaign on social media, the
Italian airline Alitalia released a series of videos promoting
flights to Washington, D.C. According to media reports, in one of
the videos, an actor in blackface portrayed former President Barack
Obama.
After social media caught wind of the issue, earlier this month
Alitalia pulled the video and apologized. Alitalia said,
"Alitalia deeply apologizes for the offense caused by the
promotional video on our Washington route. It has since been
removed. For our Company, respect for everyone is mandatory. It was
never our intention to hurt anyone and we will learn from what has
happened."
It seems that, almost every month, we report on an advertiser
that gets called out for making missteps involving serious taste,
decency, or cultural-related issues -- often with an international
component. When these issues come up, they have serious
consequences for the brand. Having to pull a campaign not only
wastes money,
