After two highly publicised and tragic air disasters, Malaysia Airlines is understandably facing an uphill battle to get customers to fly with them again. 

They decided that, in order to get some good publicity and promote their brand, that they would give away some flights to competition winners who wanted a trip to somewhere that they have been dreaming of visiting all their lives. 

However, their choice of wording for the competition was not very well thought out, as they decided to call it 'My Ultimate Bucket List’ contest, which garnered plenty of criticism rather than a lot of entries. 

The contest promised those who had already booked with them the chance to win 12 economy class return tickets to Malaysia or an iPad if they described, in 500 words or less, why a certain trip or activity was on there 'bucket list', or in other words, a list of things they would love to do before they die. 

Given that the twin air disasters they hit the headlines for had a combined death toll of 537, those potential customers in Australia and New Zealand (whom the contest was aimed at) reacted very poorly to it, and it has become a public relations nightmare for the airline. 

According to The Daily Mail, the backlash has been pretty huge, and the company was forced to pull all mentions of the term 'bucket list' from their website. They have been struggling badly since the crashes of flight MH17 and MH370, and have been losing money due to passengers choosing other airlines. This picture, tweeted from a Malaysia Airlines flight, shows why:

 

 

The airline also recently announced plans to cut 6,000 jobs in an effort to save money, but this latest PR slip will only serve to make things worse, you would imagine.

Via The Daily Mail