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Businesses cash in on Mayor Rob Ford scandal

Spirit Airlines released an advertisement Thursday featuring references to the scandal involving Mayor Toronto Rob Ford. Screenshot/ Spirit Airlines

TORONTO – While the scandal involving Toronto Mayor Rob Ford continues to evolve, a U.S. airline is cashing in on the controversy with an advertisement using the slogan “We’re not smoking crack.”

The Spirit Airlines website displayed the ad Thursday, which features the silhouette of someone appearing to resemble Ford.

Read more: How to talk to your kids about Toronto Mayor Rob Ford

The silhouette profile appears in a cloud of smoke with text reading “We’re not smoking crack…our fares REALLY are this low!”

This is not the first time Spirit Airlines has targeted a troubled politician in advertisement.

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The airline also targeted former New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner and his sexting exploits under the pseudonym “Carlos Danger.”

Spirit Airlines targets Anthony Weiner in an advertisement campaign.
Spirit Airlines targets Anthony Weiner in an advertisement campaign. Screeshot/Spirit Airlines

The ad comes just as mayor Ford held a press conference Thursday to apologize for a sexually-explicit reference to one of his former female staffers.

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Following the press conference, a member of the mayor’s security team allegedly punched and shoved members of the media as the mayor exited through a crowd of reporters.

Read more: How other cities handle politicians behaving badly

This is not the first time businesses have moved in to capitalize on Toronto’s mayoral crisis.

Toronto restaurant Craft Dogs unveiled their “Rob Ford Crack Dog” Wednesday, featuring  the addicting combination of cheese curds, French fries, beef cheeks and wiener gravy.

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And in Saskatchewan, Ford became the specialty of the day at Nicky’s Cafe in the form of “Crack Pepper Burger.”

Also Thursday, online retailer buytopia.ca released the “Rob Ford Confession Tie,” emblazoned with outdated NFL logos, similar to the tie Ford wore during a press conference where he admitted that he had smoked crack cocaine.

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