WWF Actually Did Know About 9/11 Ad [Badvertising] from Gawker

 by Hamilton Nolan

http://gawker.com/5351872/wwf-actually-did-know-about-911-ad

Just to make sure everyone is extremely clear on who did what here: the World Wildlife Fund is not just an innocent victim of a bad rogue ad agency in this whole 9/11 ad fiasco.

When the ad broke big, WWF in the US put out a hasty condemnation; then they said it was a spec ad from a Brazilian agency and that WWF "did not authorize its production or publication." Okay, well, maybe not exactly.Ad Age reports:

After the WWF appeared to initially deny approving the ad, DDB Brasil and the WWF hammered out a statement posted in Portuguese on both groups' Brazilian websites Wednesday afternoon apologizing for the ad and attributing it to "the inexperience of some professionals on both sides, and not bad faith or disrespect toward American suffering."

Thank you for clarifying that, in Portuguese! Upfront and bold responsibility-taking. So some people did some stupid shit and messed up, no biggie. We'd move on except that now the agency and the WWF both say they have no idea who did the video version of this ad. Mmmm hmm.