About two weeks ago, I remember reading an article by Gerry Braun in the SD U-T about a young woman who was asked to disembark a Southwest Airlines flight from San Diego due to the way she was dressed. I remember thinking how embarrassed that poor girl must have been, especially after seeing the outfit she had on. Yes, her skirt was short, but honestly I’ve seen worse just walking down the street in the middle of the day.
Soon after, I was surprised to see the story being picked up by national media and and even an interview on the Today Show with Matt Lauer. “Wow,” I thought, “this has the potential to really become a negative PR story for Southwest.”
After following the story for a number of days after, another woman came forward with a similar claim and Southwest gave some half-hearted apology reinstating their policy on acceptable attire.
When I read the news this morning, I laughed to myslelf to see that now Southwest is taking full advantage of all the hoopla, offering fliers a “Mini” or “Skimpy” fare sale. Is this a way for Southwest to offer a peace treaty to those they offended, or simply a way to market on some bad publicity they’ve received in the past few weeks?
In the “Land of PR” we know we must act fast when bad news attacks and combat it with a clear message. But what is Southwest saying, when it reprimands this woman for what she’s wearing, and then uses her outfit as a funny take on a pr initiative?

See story on Today Show here.