Gadling

We posted last week about a controversial Girls of Ryanair calendar that features, um, the girls of Ryanair in various semi-naked photographs. Sure, it's sexist and all that, but at the end of the day, the proceeds go to charity.

But one wonders just how much of this was simply a publicity stunt. Blogs like ours, and even respectable newspapers all carried the story and Ryaniar received a ton of coverage.

As it turns out, Ryanair, and a handful of other Irish/British travel outfitters have been engaged in a dangerous game of advertising one-upmanship over the last few years trying to shock and awe passengers away from each other. The result has been some less-than-savory campaigns which have caused their share of bad press. But as they say in the industry, all press is good press.

Judge for yourself. The Telegraph has put together a short slideshow detailing some of the more notorious campaigns, many of which seem to involve Sir Richard Branson--and at least one of which features his bare ass. Click here to check it out.

Filed under: Arts and Culture, Airlines