Advertising and culture just as southwest’s employees were the carrier’s cultural heroes, southwest’s customers were its cultural fans. Southwest airlines had spent generously on advertising that promoted its corporate culture, as shown in exhibit 6. In a rather conservative industry, southwest had created commercials and promotions that played up it’s fun- loving, altruistic, and outrageous culture. One of the most successful promotion projects introduced by southwest was its “whale of a surprise project,” which involved painting three boeing 737 like keller whales. Undertaken in partnership with sea world of texas and sea wolrd of califonia the project received enormous publicity, evoked a great deal of enthusiasm on the part of the traveling public, and appealed particularly 40 children