Update: Kayak pulls anti-Catholic ad from YouTube!
Earlier today I blogged about Kayak’s anti-Catholic advertisement (and invited AmP readers to help me contact Kayak via Facebook and Twitter).
Well, so many of you contacted Kayak today in a short period of time that Kayak’s Chief Marketing Officer Robert Birge contacted me by email and apologized. Second, after some back and forth with other AmP readers who pursued the issue, Mr. Birge removed the video from YouTube completely. It will also no longer appear on television.
I think it is very clear that we sent Kayak a strong message: anti-Catholic advertisements aren’t acceptable. And Catholics will take their business elsewhere if our faith and faithful are mocked.
That said, I consider this matter closed. And I’m now open to using Kayak again.
update – as a treat, one final advertisement that humorously features Catholics without being offensive:
Tweet this
Email
RSS
17 Comments
[...] of you will remember that back in March the efforts of the CatholicVote community prompted Kayak to remove its offensive anti-Catholic ad as well. These two actions demonstrated that companies and ad [...]
[...] on YouTube and was going to run in other media outlets. He readers complained and he reports here that pressure from Catholic readers of his blog not only got the ad yanked, but the marketing [...]
@nuntym It’s not on their Facebook page anymore.
I sent negative feedback via kayak.com, and frankly was impressed with the personal resonse (not a form letter) and what seemed like genuine sincerity. They said they only intended to run the ad on Comedy Central and the like. I don’t think its appropriate anywhere, but I suppose to those desensitized by the likes of Penn and Teller, this ad would be considered pretty tame.
Cute ad 
!
I don’t even understand their ad…someone explain it to me? And why I should be offended
It’s still online on their facebook page. And when I communicated with Mr Birge this mornig he made it clear the ad had run it’s course and wouldn’t be appearing anymore anyway. I don’t think he has been as concillatory as you think.
And I think it is very clear that you have some pull when it means to getting the message out there Thomas. Awesome! Now, can we get a prayer support rally going on this Holy Week for our Pope, whom is being crucified by the media?
I was definitely upset with the advertisement. I have to say that I am impressed with Kayak’s response. Glad to hear they contacted you and apologized. I respect that.
Thank you, Thomas and your awesome Papists. Working at the speed of light to defend our Catholic Identity. Well done!
It is still online here, from Kayak’s Facebook site:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=566656124606&ref=mf
This is AWESOME.
Truly the power of the faith in action. Excellent job!!
Well, knock me over! And I think Mr. Birge deserves kudos. I’d have probably stubbornly dug my heels in.
I wonder how much money they spent making that ad. How do we know they won’t use it somewhere else in the future?
Bravo!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Thomas Peters, Corey Schoenherr. Corey Schoenherr said: RT @americanpapist: Papists – WE DID IT! @KAYAK has pulled the offensive ad: http://tinyurl.com/yectbco (well done!) #papist #catholic # … [...]
That is a HUGE RESPONSE in only the matter of a few hours.
It will be interesting to see if the commercial shows up anywhere else in an officially sponsored way.
GOOD JOB GETTING ON THIS T.P… the Papists were out in full force!
Caption of the Day/PPOTD
