KLM Royal Dutch Airlines’ Pro-LGBT Message Backfires

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KLM Royal Dutch Airlines released a pro-LGBT meme in celebration of Amsterdam Pride Day last weekend, only to find that its imagery completely undermined the message it was trying to convey.

The airline tweeted a photo of three mismatched sets of rainbow-colored seat belts, one with two “male” tabs, one with two “female” buckle receptacles, and the third with the standard “male-female” clasps. The accompanying caption reads, “It doesn’t matter who you click with. Happy #PrideAmsterdam”:

Hundreds of individuals on social media rushed to poke fun at KLM’s ineptness, immediately noting that only one of the three seat belt pairs could possibly save lives since the other two options simply do not connect.

“Only the bottom combination will work!” tweeted one attentive reader, who called the ploy a marketing fail. “Apparently, it DOES matter with whom you ‘click’”:

“I am pretty sure that if KLM offered the options above they would be cited for all sorts of safety violations,” another observer stated. “There is only one way you can click it to be safe.”

“In a radical move Royal Dutch Airlines suggest the LGBT community should not adhere to basic airline safety practices,” another commenter quipped:

Another suggested that “Beavis & Butthead” fly with KLM, before proceeding to counsel the Dutch airlines to think through its politically correct messages more carefully:

Summing up, one tweeter simply said that the KLM pride meme “unintentionally points out the obvious”:

Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter

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