Links to what seemed to be an advert for wildlife organisation WWF, with a message and image related to the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 2001, were zipping around yesterday, causing much comment and concern on Twitter and on blogs. Was it appropriate to use 9/11 imagery in this way?

Journalism.co.uk emailed WWF UK to find out more: they didn’t know about it. Now, WWF US has released this statement:

“WWF strongly condemns this offensive and tasteless ad and did not authorize its production or publication.  It is our understanding that it was a concept offered by an outside advertising agency seeking our business in Brazil.

“The concept was summarily rejected by WWF and should never have seen the light of day. 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 strongly condemn the messages and the images portrayed in this ad. On behalf of WWF around the world, we can promise you this ad does not in any way reflect the thoughts and feelings of the people of our organization.”

Fox News maintains that outrage is still growing, while Gawker is eating yesterday’s proclamation that it ‘seems unlikely’ to be a hoax.

MediaBistro comments that the ad agency behind this, DDB Brasil, isn’t likely to get hired by its prospective client now, or ever.

All the same, a lot more people now know DDB’s name…