KidZania pauses ‘prophetic’ newspaper ad after Air India crash while social media wonders, ‘Was that a sign?’

Hours before hours the Air India plane crash, a front-page ad in the Mid-Day newspaper on June 12 featured an Air India aircraft. The positioning of the aircraft in the ad was a strange and sad coincidence.

Flight AI171, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner heading from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, crashed shortly after take-off. Out of 242 people on board, only one survived.

The same morning, the Mid-Day ad promoted KidZania’s Father’s Day weekend event. The newspaper was featured in the newspaper distributed all over Gujarat.

It showed an Air India plane coming out of windows over a cartoon city, inviting kids to play pilot or cabin crew.

After the crash, many readers felt the cheerful image now looked haunting. People on social media were shocked by the timing, but all agreed the ad was planned in advance and purely coincidental.

No one blamed KidZania or the newspaper. Still, the timing left many feeling unsettled. While the ad was meant to be playful, it turned eerie when Flight AI171 crashed just hours later.

One social media user wrote while sharing the ad, “Same airline. Same visual. How shocking & mysterious.”

While finding the coincidence “unbelievable”, one user wondered, “Was that a sign?”

Some called it the “height of coincidence” while others find it “shocking”.

“The otherwise harmless front-page KidZania ad in Mid-day today depicting the theme park has understandably created a flutter online in view of the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad. Some say it was prophetic,” wrote another user.

KidZania pauses ad

The image in the Mid-Day ad was part of a planned summer campaign by KidZania, nowhere linked to the Air India crash. According to KidZania India, the aircraft in the ad represents their Aviation Academy, run in partnership with Air India. It is used in all their centres globally.

This indoor theme park for children lets kids role-play real-life jobs like pilots, doctors and chefs. The Air India Academy at KidZania’s Mumbai and Noida centres help children learn about aviation through fun, hands-on activities.

After the Flight AI171 crash, KidZania expressed deep sorrow and offered condolences to the affected families. They clarified that the ad had been submitted much earlier.

“The advertisement was submitted well before the unfortunate event, as part of a pre-planned summer campaign. We remain sensitive to this tragedy and have paused any further promotion of the said visual,” the company told NDTV.