Earlier today, the Internet was abuzz with claims that the World Wildlife Fund, that group whose flirty college interns sometimes ask you for money on the street and whose symbol is a cute panda, had released an ad depicting a slew of planes pointed at New York City. The reference, according to reports, was to 9/11, and how much worse a climate disaster would be. Everyone immediately tut-tutted the group. We read about it first on Gawker, which really should have known better — as usually the controversial ads they link to are spec ads, developed by ad agencies to get attention and lure clients. As it turned out, that was exactly what this one turned out to be. The WWF was appropriately appalled, and released a statement explaining the situation and condemning the ad. "The concept was summarily rejected by WWF and should never have seen the light of day," a statement said. "It is an unauthorized use of our logo and we are aggressively pursuing action to have it removed from websites where it is being currently featured." We'll see how long this image lasts on our site — take a peek at it while you can, because really, it is very, very scary.

Offensive WWF "9/11″ Print Spot is a Rejected Spec Ad [Mediaite]