Weird News guru Buck Wolf informs me that The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News ran several ads last Friday for a fledgling airline called Derrie-Air, described on its website as "the world's only carbon-neutral luxury airline, where you don't have to choose between living the high life and saving the planet." Derrie-Air's innovative "green" business model includes charging ticket buyers by the pound and planting trees to offset carbon emissions.
Some readers may have missed the disclaimer at the bottom of the home page. "The Derrie-Air campaign is a fictitious advertising campaign," it says. "In other words, smile, we're pulling your leg."
The ads themselves gave no indication of the ruse, because, according to Philadelphia Media Holdings spokesman Jay Devine, "our goal was to drive people to the website." The point of the exercise was to "demonstrate the power of our brands in generating awareness and generating traffic for our advertisers," he said.
The irony of a major metropolitan newspaper running a hoax to impress potential advertisers was not addressed.
Read more about it:
• Spoof Ads Run in Philly.com, Inquirer, Daily News - Philadelphia Inquirer
• Newspapers Run Ads About Fake Airline Derrie-Air - Associated Press
• Derrie-Air - Spoof website
Comments
That’s what happens when a P.R/advertising guy takes over a serious news operation. And considering how much money that operation has been losing, you’d think a GOOD businessman wouldn’t waste money on pranking the readers and instead use those funds for a better purpose.