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Wildlife Group Disowns 9/11 Ad

WWF actually rejected 9/11-themed advertisement

By John Johnson, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 2, 2009 11:28 AM CDT

(Newser) – The World Wildlife Fund has been blasted for an ad bearing its logo that shows a slew of planes bearing down on New York City. The latest twist: WWF never authorized it. In fact, it's just a spec ad created by a Brazil agency that was quickly rejected by the wildlife fund last year, reports the Los Angeles Times. "We are just utterly appalled," said a WWF spokeswoman. “We assumed it was dead and gone. But it appears now that someone submitted it to a competition."

To make matters worse, the ad-that-never-was went viral and won an award for public service for the DDB Brazil agency. "This ad is not something that anyone in our organization would ever have signed off on," she said. The ad's copy: "The tsunami killed 100 times more people than 9/11. The planet is brutally powerful. Respect it. Preserve it."

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The ad in question.

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The concept was summarily rejected by W.W.F. and should never have seen the light of day. It is an unauthorized use of our logo and we are aggressively pursuing action to have it removed from Web sites. - World Wildlife Fund statement

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 9 comments

jagerhans

Sep 3, 2009 8:17 AM CDT

ahhh no one understood shit of what i meant.. well, forget it for all i care.

Newser001

Sep 3, 2009 5:28 AM CDT

I just received this personal email response from Lana Pinheiro of DDB Brazil, September 3, 2009 10:04:04 PDT - The ‘Tsunami’ ad for World Wildlife Fund Brasil was created by a team at DDB Brasil in December 2008. The team in question is no longer with the Agency. DDB Brasil apologizes to anyone who was offended or affected by the ad. It should never have been made and it does not portray the philosophy of the agency.

Newser001

Sep 3, 2009 4:03 AM CDT

Facts, pls.

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advertising • Manhattan • World Wildlife Fund • offensive • 9/11 attacks

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Wildlife Group Disowns 9/11 Ad