Photo: AviationCV
It’s the end of an era: Southwest Airlines, the company that started the trend of peanuts as in-flight snacks and, as such, will forever remain associated to it, will no longer be serving them on their planes.
In a statement to the media, cited by People Magazine, Southwest announces its decision to stop serving peanuts on flights, starting August 1. Apparently, the decision was prompted out of consideration for passengers with nut allergies.
Lovers of peanuts, you have no other option than to just deal with it. The company says the decision was difficult but is meant to improve the quality of the on-board experience for all passengers, including those with peanut-related allergies.
While peanuts won’t be available on Southwest flights soon, other snacks will still be served, like pretzels and cookies. You still have a wide array of choices, just not peanuts anymore.
In the statement, Southwest uses the opportunity to remind everyone the ads they ran in the ‘70s and ‘80s, in which they boasted that their tickets were so cheap you could literally “fly for peanuts.” And, while peanuts will remain associated with Southwest for all eternity, the company hopes it was its hospitality and high-quality services what attracted customers in the first place. Not just the complimentary peanuts.
“Everyone made fun of Southwest because all they served was peanuts, so we turned it around and used it as an advantage,” Roy Spence, co-founder of GSD&M advertising agency which has done Southwest’s marketing for over 35 years, says for the publication.
“People don’t remember that, but that was at a time when air travel was for rich people, and Southwest was for ordinary citizens,” he adds. “Southwest was the pioneer of peanuts. It was a marketing strategy, not just a food strategy.”
Well, whatever it was, it is now history.
Lovers of peanuts, you have no other option than to just deal with it. The company says the decision was difficult but is meant to improve the quality of the on-board experience for all passengers, including those with peanut-related allergies.
While peanuts won’t be available on Southwest flights soon, other snacks will still be served, like pretzels and cookies. You still have a wide array of choices, just not peanuts anymore.
In the statement, Southwest uses the opportunity to remind everyone the ads they ran in the ‘70s and ‘80s, in which they boasted that their tickets were so cheap you could literally “fly for peanuts.” And, while peanuts will remain associated with Southwest for all eternity, the company hopes it was its hospitality and high-quality services what attracted customers in the first place. Not just the complimentary peanuts.
“Everyone made fun of Southwest because all they served was peanuts, so we turned it around and used it as an advantage,” Roy Spence, co-founder of GSD&M advertising agency which has done Southwest’s marketing for over 35 years, says for the publication.
“People don’t remember that, but that was at a time when air travel was for rich people, and Southwest was for ordinary citizens,” he adds. “Southwest was the pioneer of peanuts. It was a marketing strategy, not just a food strategy.”
Well, whatever it was, it is now history.
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