Skift Take

Kayak's motto is "search one and done." However, it isn't done when it comes to annoying people who don't share its sense of humor. Or humour.

Kayak just loves to be a bit edgy, as its newest advertisement shows.

It is not Spirit Airlines edgy, but Kayak’s lack of political correctness still could unleash some complaints.

A little more than a year after getting an ad banned in the UK because authorities thought it made light of brain surgery, and offended patients and their families, Kayak has unveiled a spot that some disabled people and seniors, if they are hyper-sensitive, might take exception to.

The “What’d you do with your mom’s stairlift” ad depicts a would-be traveler searching on his laptop for a hotel deal while riding his mother’s stairlift because he “can’t afford to waste a second” given how labor-intensive it is to find a hotel bargain.

The guy’s wife introduces him to Kayak midway up the stairs, and he easily finds a hotel deal while his mom struggles up the flight of stairs on foot because he’s still using her stairlift.

Importantly, Kayak isn’t exactly taunting UK authorities. The ad only runs in the U.S., for now at least.

What’d you do with your mom’s stairlift?

Here is the brain surgeon ad, although it isn’t in English:

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Tags: advertising, kayak

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