As reported by Five Blogs Before Lunch, a few ads were posted in the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News for Derrie-Air (a new airline) that takes a different approach to flying.
Upon checking out the Web site, I was pretty amused to learn that the company’s ticket sales are based on…the traveler’s weight (body and luggage). Bottom line, the less you weigh, the less you pay. For example, $2.25/lb. from Philly to LA, $1.40/lb. from Philly to Chicago and so on.
They’d make a ton in the US market alone. What better way could there be to gain from Americans’ fat-assedness? Other than lipo…few…there are few.
Part of the marketing ploy included planting trees to offset every pound of carbon expelled in running the operation. Genius, eh?
Too bad it’s a fake.
“The Derrie-Air campaign is a fictitious advertising campaign created by Philadelphia Media Holdings to test the results of advertising in our print and online products and to stimulate discussion on a timely environmental topic of interest to all citizens…”
So I guess we’re part of the “test” but the campaign is worth paying attention to. I’m personally intrigued by the idea of carbon-footprint offsetting, and this fake company would appear to have the right idea.
Unfortunately, they would undoubtedly be forced to shut down after losing all their money in lawsuits over weight discrimination. After all, when selling the flight, passengers would have to be honest about their actual tonnage, and for many, giving up that info up would come after the first-born son.
The guilty agency behind this? Gyro Worldwide Advertising. Well done, y’all.
Check out their Web site. flyderrie-air dot com.