easyJet in-flight magazine pulled due to inappropriate image

Thursday, 26th November 2009

This week leading budget airline easyJet were forced to withdraw as many as 300,000 copies of its in-flight magazine, after a feature was found to be using the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin as a backdrop for its fashion feature.

The eight-page fashion spread appeared in the November edition of easyJet Traveller and depicted models pouting and posing at the Jewish Museum in Berlin as well as leaning against the pillars of the Holocaust memorial.

Complaints soon started to fly in from European Jewish organisations and passengers, especially those traveling to Tel Aviv.

According to Uwe Neumärer, spokesman for the Foundation for the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the photographs were taken without the necessary permission. She also went on to say that: "We only give permission to projects that have a connection to the memorial, the Holocaust or some aspect of commemoration."

Samantha Day is a spokeswoman for easyJet. She recently told the press that the magazine's contents were brought to the attention of the airline on Friday, some three weeks after it was originally released for circulation. She also revealed that the magazine was produced by an external agency, adding that: "We realised that to hold a fashion shoot in front of the memorial was inappropriate and insensitive, and we didn't wish to offend anyone. It's not quite clear why we didn't spot it earlier," she said.

The airline had received very few complaints about the magazine, "but it can take a few days for customer service complaints to come through and for them to be addressed".

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