United Airlines has found itself at the centre of a PR storm - so the public has stepped in to suggest some more appropriate mottos and logos for the company.
Shocking footage of a screaming passenger being violently dragged off a plane after the flight was overbooked grabbed headlines worldwide - leading to widespread condemnation of United’s actions.
Now people on social media have been suggesting the airline update its slogan from ‘Fly the friendly skies’ with mottos such as ‘Where fists fly free’ and ‘beating expectations one punch at a time’.
The United passenger, who said he was a doctor, was pulled from his seat and dragged away with a bloodied lip. At one point he managed to run back on board the plane with his face covered in blood, saying “just kill me” and “I need to go home”, according to witnesses.
In an extraordinary email to the company, United’s CEO defended the decision to forcibly remove the paying customer, saying that staff were “left with no choice”.
The incident left many horrified - but some took to the opportunity to use the PR fail to give United’s branding something of a redesign.
There were suggestion for a new logo...
There was some suggestion that rival brands could use the incident to their benefit...
Unsurprisingly, there were a number of Hunger Games memes...
In fact a whole Twitter account was dedicated to fake United PR...
There was also this sneak peak at the ‘new seating chart’...
Safety advice...
And a suggestion for a new training video...
Some also commented on the airlines latest app update...
Videos of the incident led to a Chicago Department of Aviation security officer being placed on paid leave.
“The incident on United flight 3411 was not in accordance with our standard operating procedure and the actions of the aviation security officer are obviously not condoned,” aviation department spokeswoman Karen Pride said.
“That officer has been placed on leave effective today pending a thorough review of the situation.”