Qantas cops criticism over ‘tacky’ Anzac Day marketing campaign

QANTAS has come under fire for a “tacky and disrespectful” campaign in which it spruiked wine specials to “celebrate Anzac Day”.

QANTAS has come under attack over a “tacky and disrespectful” marketing campaign in which wine specials were spruiked to “celebrate Anzac Day”.

A Qantas epiQure mailout invited recipients to “celebrate Anzac Day” with a discount on a bottle of Taittinger Brut.

The promotion has since been replaced with a special deal to “celebrate autumn”.

Backlash on Twitter saw the airline labelled “tacky” and “no longer Australian”.

“We apologise for any offence caused,” Qantas posted to those complaining.

“The epiQure campaign has been withdrawn.”

Follow-up tweets suggested the airline email an apology to all those who received the original mailout, and make a donation to Legacy.

However, Qantas has no plans for a mass apology email.

It comes after a difficult period for Qantas, with a controversial overhaul of its frequent flyer program copping intense criticism late last month.

In February, Qantas announced it would shed 5000 staff, cut some routes and put off some aircraft purchases after posting a six-month loss of $252 million.

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@QantasAirways FF email jst received "Celebrate ANZAC day". It's "commemorate" you bunch of idiots. Are you even in Australia?

— Kevin Pritchard (@K_Pritch) April 24, 2014

An email from @QantasAirways "Celebrate ANZAC Day with 2,000 Bonus Qantas Points and gourmet food & wine." Shame on you. Unsubscribed.

— Mark (@markc01) April 24, 2014

http://t.co/47F4MiEmMe Really @qantas? Celebrate ANZAC Day? Real tacky marketing. You do know what ANZAC Day represents?

— Andy Donovan (@donovandy) April 24, 2014

Got an email from @QantasAirways saying "Celebrate Anzac Day" with bonus Qantas points. Tacky and disrespectful, I felt.

— Chris Urquhart (@chrisurquhart) April 24, 2014

@tmfgilla I didn't think Qantas could stuff up marketing / media messaging so badly as the F. Flyer changes. They've just outdone themselves

— Nigel Richardson (@NigelRichardson) April 24, 2014