While it’s not as bad as deliberately capitalizing on tragedy to market something, British Airways is feeling the heat for some very bad timing after a London man spotted an ad for the airline encouraging travelers to “escape the commute and discover the Indian Ocean” over an underwater shot.

As everyone knows, there’s a missing Malaysian Airlines flight believed to have crashed somewhere in that same ocean, killing all 239 people on board, so talking about the delights of the area is just not a great idea at the moment.

The New York Daily News spoke to the 29-year-old Londoner who snapped the pic of the offending ad as seen in Euston Station.

“I just thought it was a really strange time to have the ad running,” Alan told the NYDN.

The airline has since apologized for the ad, explaining that the decision to run it was made before the flight went missing.

“We are very sorry for any offense caused. The advertising campaign featured in the U.K. is being withdrawn. This campaign was planned some months ago and we recognize that its appearance at this time is inappropriate.”

The New York Times found itself in a similar situation after running an underwater ad for an iPad on its home page, right above a story about the missing flight.

Alan is now asking that the attention from the ad go toward a good cause, asking news agencies and others to donate to Cancer Research UK by either texting BEAT to 70099 or by visiting http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/.

Too soon? British Airways advertisement encourages flyers to ‘discover the Indian Ocean’ [New York Daily News]

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