Wildlife Group Condemns a 9/11-Tsunami Ad

An ad proposed by a Brazilian advertising agency, which shows dozens of planes heading for Lower Manhattan, was rejected by the World Wildlife Fund.

The World Wildlife Fund on Tuesday condemned an unauthorized advertisement that depicted dozens of planes heading into Lower Manhattan, with a tag line reading, “The Tsunami Killed 100 Times More People Than 9/11.”

The ad had been pitched to the Brazilian branch of the World Wildlife Fund by an advertising agency and rejected, said Steve Ertel, a spokesman for the group. “It was a concept to our office in Brazil and it was rejected. From that point, we have not been able to get a hold of the agency to find out how it got out.”

A statement released by the group on Tuesday afternoon said:

The concept was summarily rejected by W.W.F. and should never have seen the light of day. It is an unauthorized use of our logo and we are aggressively pursuing action to have it removed from Web sites where it is being currently featured.
Beneath the text comparing 9/11 with the tsunami, the ad reads: “The planet is brutally powerful. Respect it. Preserve it.” The text stands next to the group’s familiar black and white giant panda logo.

Mr. Ertel said the World Wildlife Fund had never seen the ad before Tuesday, when his phone started ringing and people began forwarding various blog posts about the ad. It was a scramble to figure out where the ad had come from, he said.

“There were a number of calls to a number of people,” he said.