Asian Low-Cost Carrier Scoot Calls out Spirit Airlines for Copycat Branding

Scoot, a Singapore-based low-cost carrier owned by Singapore Airlines, takes pride in cheeky branding it dubs “Scootitude,” complete with clever phrases and amusing illustrations.

Illustrations so amusing they could actually be confused with another low-cost carrier, this one in the United States.

Scoot’s pointing the finger at Spirit Airlines, claiming the similarities between the two carriers’ branding can’t be a coincidence. Spirit rolled out its yellow and black rebranding last fall and at the time Spirit’s CEO Ben Baldanza boasted it was “radically different” from other airlines.

In a statement to Skift, a Scoot representative said “In 2014 US airline Spirit adopted a new brand identity very similar to that created by Asian airline Scoot in 2012. When Scoot heard about this, it wanted to respond in a fun way and decided on a friendly campaign to engage with Spirit and the public at the same time.”

Campbell Wilson, Scoot’s CEO, said in a Facebook video that he’s “not mad” at what he calls “the inspiration” Spirit apparently got from Scoot’s branding. Instead, Wilson claims he’s “flattered” at Baldanza’s attempt to replicate the “Scootitude” and plans to send Baldanza a kit explaining how to properly model the Scoot brand.

“If you’re going to act like us, please, do it well,” Wilson said in the video referring to Baldanza.

Along with the kit, Wilson says he plans to send Baldanza another message to his Florida office if Scoot receives enough shares and likes on Facebook.