TwitterWell this is one way to get people on a public bus.
New Adventure Travel Limited (NAT Group), which is based in the United Kingdom, decided to begin a new promotion and ad campaign in hopes of luring younger customers.
Unfortunately, their revealing approach rubbed more than a few people the wrong way.
The ads, placed on the back of several buses, featured either a shirtless man or a topless woman holding a sign. The text simply read, "RIDE ME ALL DAY FOR £3." As you can guess, people weren't outraged about the price (equivalent to $4.70). They were more disturbed by the sexual innuendos.
Less than 24 hours later, the ads quickly went viral prompting the NAT Group to act fast.
"The slogan of ‘ride me all day for £3,' while being a little tongue in cheek, was in no way intended to cause offense to either men or women," the company said in a statement. "If the advertisement has done so, then we apologize unreservedly. There has certainly been no intention to objectify either men or women."
They added, "Given the volume of negativity received we have decided to remove the pictures from the back of the buses within the next 24 hours."
Two ladies that had something to say about the controversy were Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb. Tuesday morning on the Today show, the ladies sounded off on the new campaign in the most hilarious way possible.
"I guess ‘ride me' is what's bad…for three pounds," Hoda joked. "Hello, that seems inexpensive."
Kathie Lee added, "I mean, for all day." If only everyone had the same sense of humor.