Whoops! Airbus plane used in ad to entice Boeing



SEATTLE -- Surely, marketing teams should check their facts as well TV news reporters, right?

Well, not always.

The Washington Aerospace Partnership, a group of leaders from businesses, labor and local governments intended to promote aerospace industry in Washington State, were responsible for a sizable, and probably costly, blunder Wednesday.

The group purchased a full-page advertisement featured in the Seattle Times Wednesday, encouraging state leaders to pass a comprehensive transportation package that Boeing Co. would see as incentive to continue offering manufacturing jobs in Washington state. The ad, which pleaded for legislators on both sides of the aisle to pass the package, featured a plane in the right hand corner of the page.

One would think since the aerospace group, and Washington state, are trying to entice Boeing to stay, they'd use a Boeing plane, right?

Wrong.

The plane used in the advertisement is none other than a Airbus A319, meaning the Washington Aerospace Partnership essentially promoted the plane of a Boeing competitor, perhaps hurting their cause to woo the wary company.

According to the Seattle Times, the ad was placed by the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, a subset of the Washington Aerospace Partnership. They called the Airbus plane in ad to entice Boeing a "embarrassing, cringe-worthy error."