QANTAS has been embarrassed by a publicity stunt on Twitter that backfired. The airline yesterday issued an apology for awarding free tickets to the Bledisloe Cup on Saturday night to two Brisbane men who ''blacked up'' to impersonate their favourite Wallaby.

It removed a photo on its Twitter page of the two men dressed - and face-painted - to look like the Wallabies star Radike Samo. Qantas had awarded the men the $378 platinum tickets last week.

The tweeted photo.

To win, competitors had to tell Qantas via Twitter how they intended to show their support for the Wallabies at the match. Charles Butler, on his Twitter account pek-anan, promised to ''dress as Radike Samo. Complete with Afro Wig, Aus rugby kit and facepaint''. He and another man later got Samo to pose in a photograph with them in their wigs, and with their faces painted black. Qantas's Twitter account tweeted an image of the two men yesterday, saying they had ''lived up to their promise! Good work''.

However a stream of posts called the photo racist and said it was reminiscent of a 2009 Hey Hey It's Saturday ''blackface'' routine that caused a storm, and which American entertainer Harry Connick Jr - who was appearing on the show - reacted to with horror. The airline immediately took down the photo, sending apologetic tweets to people who said it was racist.