Pakistan International Airlines apologises for controversial Eiffel Tower ad

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Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has apologised for its recent ad showing a plane flying towards the Eiffel Tower. The ad, which was published on its X (formerly known as Twitter) account on 10 Jan featured the national flag of France, the Eiffel Tower, a PIA plane and the text "Paris, we're coming today."

PIA spokesman Abdullah Hafeez said that the ad was meant to celebrate the airline's ability to resume flights to Europe, reported AP News. It was also never intended to harm 9/11 survivors or victims' families, added Abdullah.

The spokesman reportedly said that he was surprised over the criticism and apologised to those who felt that the advertisement hurt them. The Eiffel Tower was featured in the ad as its "one of the best places in the world", Abdullah told AP News.

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Checks by MARKETING-INTERACTIVE revealed that the ad is still live on PIA's X account. It has since garnered 21.3 million views on the platform, as well as four thousand replies.

According to media intelligence firm Truescope, the PIA saw a spike on 12 to 19 January following the advertisement. This is due to its perceived likeness to the past 9/11 attack. It was widely discussed in the US, India and Australia too.

The brand sparked widespread criticism following the advertisement and was deemed "insensitive" and "inappropriate" by netizens, said Truescope. Comments ranged from calls to ban PIA in France to speculations that the airline's graphic designer was trolling. The imagery was also described as "concerning" and "poor in creativity".

Interestingly, while many condemned the ad, others argued that the 9/11 comparison was unwarranted and shared positive experiences with PIA, praising their safety and service.

In addition, CARMA found that netizens expressed outrage over the ad's imagery, with some questioning the marketing team's decision-making process. Posts compared a previous advertisement in 1979 that depicted a plane flying near the Twin Towers. The brand's sentiments were also impacted, going down from 10.6% positive and 41.7% negative to 2.8% positive and 41.7% negative.

The brand's word cloud also included words such as "tower attacks", "killed", "crash" and "terrorist".

The ad comes as the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) lifted its bar on PIA from operating in the bloc in November 2024.

The airline's authorisation to operate in the EU was suspended in June 2020 over concerns regarding Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) and the ability of Pakistani's authorities. The suspension came days after Pakistan launched an investigation into validity of pilot licenses following a PIA plane crash which killed 97 people, according to Reuters.

The investigation reportedly saw 262 of the country's 860 pilots grounded. 141 of which were pilots from PIA whose licenses was termed "dubious" by the aviation minister. At the time, PIA reportedly had 434 pilots.

The grounded pilots reportedly had "fake" licenses, while some had obtained the license by cheating and having others take exams for them, reported AP News.

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