Braniff's Spanish ad urges passengers to 'sit naked'

MIAMI -- A Braniff airlines advertisement appearing in Miami's Spanish media was intended to promote airplanes with leather seats, but the common translation urges passengers to 'sit naked.'

The ads say, 'sentado en cuero,' which commonly means 'sit naked.'

'Cuero' also means leather, but to indicate leather seats the word 'asientos' or 'seats' should be added, as in 'sentado en asientos de cuero.'

'It's hilarious,' said Teri Zubizaretta, president of Miami's Zubi Advertising, the Southeast's largest Hispanic advertising firm. 'The whole town is talking about it. Maybe Braniff did it on purpose.'

Braniff officials say it was not intentional and accused some Miamians of having 'sick minds.'

Braniff marketing vice president Diego Garrido said airline officials wondered if there could be a misinterpretation when the ad campaign began last October in Mexico, 'but we haven't had one complaint.'

'If you have some sick minds out there in Miami, that's their problem,' Garrido said from Braniff's Dallas headquarters.

'I'm from Spanish parents myself,' Garrido said. 'I even asked my mother what she thought of the campaign. She said if anyone takes it dirty, they are sick people.'

Enrique Perez, advertising director of Miami's Spanish-language daily newspaper Diario Las Americas, said although the headline on the Braniff ad may be misleading, the rest of the copy clearly explains the reference to leather seats.