TWA apologizes for ad deemed 'racist' and 'sexist.'

Jet, Oct 7, 1996

TWA airline officials have apologized for an ad that some called racist and sexist.

The ad featured fares to warm-weather spots and ran once in several newspapers in September. It displayed a drawing of a woman with her dress blowing above her knees, which is a pose similar to Marilyn Monroe's famous pose. Below the drawing were the words: "Check out these fares. Your pasty white thighs will thank you."

They're saying the African, Hispanic and Asian-American populations don't go to the beach," Sam Chisholm, president of The Mingo Group, said in USA Today about the reference to "pasty white thighs." John McDonald, a TWA spokesman, said the ad was meant to be humurous.

"We did not intend to offend anyone," he said in the article.

TWA said it received more than 100 complaints from women and minority travelers about the ad, which they report is not scheduled to run again.

Names and phone numbers of those complaining were taken, and TWA plans to call each person with an apology, McDonald said.

D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles in St. Louis, TWA's advertising firm, created the ad.