'You never know': Plane passengers 'creeped out' by new Coke napkins

A bold marketing initiative from Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines encouraging plane passengers to share phone numbers has backfired.

Passengers have complained of being “creeped out” by a Diet Coke napkin put on tray tables during a flight.

The napkin found on the Delta flight prompts people to write down their name and phone number and give it to their “plane crush”.

“Because you’re on a plane full of interesting people and hey … you never know,” the front of the napkin reads.

On the back it says: “Be a little old school. Write down your number and give it to your plane crush. You never know…”

A passenger posted pictures of the napkin on Twitter, saying they were “creepy”.

“Pretty sure no one appreciated unsolicited phone numbers in the ‘good old days’ and they sure as heck don’t want the number of someone who has been gawking at them on a place for hours today,” the passenger wrote.

“Not a good look.”

A woman also posted a picture of the “awful” napkin.

“The opposite of romantic,” she wrote.

Others however said the idea was “genius” and a “beautiful old school idea”.

“We’ve all been on a plane bored looking around, see someone, maybe make eye contact … but it’s always then you need a pen and paper to write your number, so I think this is a beautiful idea,” one commented.

Another said it wasn’t creepy to offer your number to somebody.

“It’s probably the least in your face way to try to talk to someone. It’s less threatening than them forcing me to have a conversation with them. Honestly I wish this is how all men and women said hi,” he said.

A spokeswoman for Coca-Cola company told Yahoo7 News in a statement it apologised to anybody offended.

“We worked with our partners at Delta to begin removing the napkins last month and are replacing them with other designs,” she said.

Delta Airlines said in a statement Coke products were rotated regularly and said it “missed the mark” with the napkin.

“We are sorry for that and began removing the napkins from our aircraft in January,” it said.