Carnival Corp. Suspends Some Cruise Marketing on TV, Online
January 25, 2012, 7:05 AM ESTBy Andy Fixmer and Beth Jinks
(Updates with today’s share price in fifth paragraph. See EXT2 <GO> for more coverage.)
Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Carnival Corp. halted broadcast and digital advertising for its Carnival Cruise Lines in the aftermath of the Costa Concordia accident last week that claimed at least 11 lives.
Carnival, owner of the Costa fleet, suspended broadcast, digital and direct-mail marketing for the line “for the time being,” Vance Gulliksen, a spokesman, said today in an e-mail.
The world’s biggest cruise operator is also evaluating marketing across “brands and geographic regions, with each brand being sensitive to their specific audiences,” Gulliksen said. The decision comes five days after the Concordia, carrying 4,200 passengers and crew, ran aground off Italy. More than 20 people are still missing.
“We’re not in a position to speak to what individual brand’s plans but they are each actively evaluating their marketing and advertising efforts,” Gulliksen said.
Carnival gained 4.7 percent to $31.99 at 3:29 p.m. New York time. Before today, the stock had declined 11 percent from the $34.28 close on Jan. 13, the day of the accident.
The company had been increasing television commercials for its cruise lines, according to data from Nielsen. Last year Carnival ran 10,213 TV ads, a 12 percent gain from 2010.
--Editors: Rob Golum, Jeffrey Tannenbaum
To contact the reporters on this story: Andy Fixmer in Los Angeles at afixmer@bloomberg.net; Beth Jinks in New York at bjinks1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Palazzo at apalazzo@bloomberg.net
