Attempt To Get A Leg Up Backfires On Twa

Trans World Airlines is apologizing for showing a little leg.

TWA ran a one-day newspaper ad intended to tease travelers into booking flights to warm-weather destinations. It showed a woman’s skirt billowing a la Marilyn Monroe, and urged travel as a remedy for “pasty white thighs.”

When the ad ran in St. Louis, Kansas City, Mo., San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle papers, as well as USA Today and The New York Times, about 140 people complained it was racist, sexist or otherwise inappropriate.

TWA spokesman John McDonald said the ad promoting TWA’s three-day sale on fares to Florida, Hawaii and Puerto Rico was meant to be humorous, and the airline planned to apologize to everyone who called.