The World Wildlife Fund is learning the hard way what happens when you pick an advertising agency more interested in winning awards than serving your needs.
UPDATE: The Denver Egotist has a link to a minute-long television commercial based on the same concept.
SECOND UPDATE: WWF and DDB Brasil now say the ad was approved by “inexperienced” executives on both sides, and that the ad ran once in a small Sao Paulo newspaper. We all know that mistakes hurt but that it is the cover-ups that kill you, so we’ll see how long this story lasts.
Denver Public Relations Blog 
Wow. I really dislike that. What a horrible mistake.
The ad isn’t just tasteless. It’s stupid. Read the copy:
“The tsunami killed 100 times more people than 9/11. The planet is brutally powerful. Respect it. Preserve it.”
So the World Wildlife Federation is saying what? Don’t dis the Earth or it’ll kick our butt?
Brutal.
Nature doesn’t deal in rewards and punishments, only consequences.