Welcome to the latest episode of stupid brand tweets, World Cup edition.
Sunday's social media gaffe comes to us courtesy of The Netherlands' Royal Dutch Airlines, also known as KLM. The airline felt the need to kick Mexican fans when they were down, posting a racially insensitive tweet soon after the Dutch World Cup squad stormed from behind in the final minutes of its match against Mexico to knock them from the tournament.
It's Adios Amigo to @KLM's Adios Amigos tweet. The company has now deleted it pic.twitter.com/9KsEsNBKGe— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) June 29, 2014
This comes not long after Delta Airlines tweeted a picture of a Giraffe to represent Ghana during that nation's match with the U.S. in the group stage. Giraffes, the world now knows, do not live in Ghana.
KLM has since deleted the tweet, but as you can see with the above image, it's not exactly hard to find. And when people did find it, many were displeased (beware, some of the below tweets are filled with curse words).
Apparently, @klm hasn't been monitoring the #SayNoToRacism hashtag. :-(— Hiddles Tigress (@hiddlestigress) June 29, 2014
.@KLM I'm never flying your shitty airline again. Fuck you big time.— Gael Garcia Bernal (@GaelGarciaB) June 29, 2014
@KLM I use to fly your airline to visit my daughter in the UK, Not anymore after that racist tweet i'm Mex, my girl is half-mex, never again— George (@GeorgeTriton) June 29, 2014
What happened, @KLM? A few amigos made you feel uncomfortable? Think twice about making fun of a bunch of clients. pic.twitter.com/kJFcJHjsDf— Jax (@EsaClys) June 29, 2014
If I'm ever in the Netherlands, I know what company I am NOT flying with. Ahem, @KLM— Diego Galaviz (@DiegoG20) June 29, 2014
But perhaps the best response came from Mexican airline Aeromexico.
Gracias por este gran campeonato, estamos orgullosos y los esperamos en casa #VivaMéxico pic.twitter.com/GCE5u5Cj6r— Aeroméxico (@AeroMexico_com) June 29, 2014
That tweet roughly translates to "Thanks for the great World Cup. We are proud and waiting at home."