Has America’s Spirit Airlines overstepped the bounds of propriety by producing an advertisement in which a man appearing to be a U.S. Secret Service agent surrounded by bikini-clad beauties suggests air travel to Cartegena, Colombia?

According to this news item from Colombia’s El Tiempo, the government of Colombia regards this as inappropriate subliminal advertising, and has told Spirit to pull the ads immediately.

The news item from El Tiempo starts out this way:

A U.S. airline launched an advertising campaign depicting four women surrounding an agent.

The advertisement was released by low-cost U.S. carrier Spirit Airlines, which makes reference to the scandal involving Secret Service agents with President Barack Obama and prostitutes in Cartagena. The ad invites people to visit Cartagena to obtain sex

In the foreground, the ad shows a man wearing an earphone in dark glasses (similar to those worn by Secret Service agents) putting a finger over his lips in a gesture of silence, with four women behind him wearing pink swimsuits. On its Web site, the airline advertises flights from Fort Lauderdale to La Heroica (Cartagena).

The campaign features the slogan, “More Bang for Your Buck.” In English, the word “bang” is used to refer to sex, which implies that the ad is promoting the idea of “more sex for your money.”

Source. Themoderatevoice.com