German airline Lufthansa apologised for shooting its World Cup 2018 ad campaign promotion in the Ukrainian capital Kiev rather than in Moscow – despite implying it was filmed in Russia.
The promotion featured two enthusiastic German supporters attempting to make the most of their time in Moscow during the World Cup.
After fan and media backlash the airline issued an apology, pulled the campaign and explained that the ad was shot in Kiev for ‘logistical reasons and claimed it was common practice for commercials not to film them in claimed locations.
Lufthansa, the official airline of the German national team, the DFB, eventually pulled the ad from its YouTube and Facebook pages.
“In the first comments and reactions we noticed that in this specific case that this video hurt the feelings of some viewers. We deeply regret this and apologize officially for this. That is why Lufthansa had removed the video from all social media platforms already during this weekend,” said Lufthansa spokesperson Boris Ogursky.
Reports also suggest that Lufthansa faced difficulties in Russia to obtain permission to shoot the video.
Comment:
Relationships between the two nations are extremely bad after Russia invaded/conquered the Ukrainian region of Crimea.
Indeed, Russian president Vladimir Putin recently said there are no conditions that would see Russia return occupied Crimea to Ukraine.
The geopolitics behind this World Cup have created a marketing failure.
First Mastercard (see case study), then Burger King (see case study) and now Lufthansa.
Which will be the next World Cup campaign to receive global backlash?
Links:
Lufthansa
https://www.youtube.com/user/Lufthansa
