Red Bull Refuses To Apologize For 'Insensitive' Titanic Ad

Red Bull's recent advertisement riffing off the tragedy that is Titanic has garnered almost 150 complaints with the U.K.'s Advertising Standards Authority, Beverage Daily reports, but it seems the brand isn't backing down.

The 30-second ad, which shows the bearded captain insisting on champagne on his ship, instead of a crate of Red Bull, implies that if only he had allowed the Red Bull onboard, more than 1,500 people wouldn't have died when the ship sank. "Wings? Why on Earth would you need wings on a ship? Stupidest thing I've ever heard," the captain said.

The video has caused widespread controversy, as viewers claim the ad is disrespectful to the lives lost and families affected by the tragedy. The Advertising Standards Authority, however, said, "Although the ad would be distasteful to some, it was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence or be generally seen as making light of the lives that were lost in the disaster."

Meanwhile, Red Bull has failed to fully apologize for the ad (or pull it), releasing a statement to Beverage Daily saying it is ironic instead of disrespectful. "The tragedy of the Titanic was so great that it has now made its way into our language. When people say that something is 'like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic' they are not making little of those who lost their lives in 1912. When we say that 'Nero fiddled while Rome burned' we are not making little of those who died in 64 AD," the statement reads. "Our ironic advertisement points to an arrogant ship's captain who thought he knew everything, not the passengers who suffered."