‘The flight costs €15, we’re not going to give you a foot massage’: Have we normalized being treated badly by advertising?
13 June 2026 at 05:00
“Random seat? You’ll lose the window.” “The flight costs €15, we’re not going to give you a foot massage.” “You paid for a seat, not a throne.” Ryanair’s official Spanish account on X has posted messages like these over the past month. Far from causing outrage, they have become almost routine. The Irish low-cost carrier has long embraced an acidic, at times offensive, communication style. But it is not alone. Other brands such as U.S. burger chain Wendy’s or even language learning app Duolingo show that provocation has become a marketing lingua franca.

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