This ad, created by a Brazilian ad agency and rejected by WWF, is captioned: 'The tsunami killed 100 times more people than 9/11. The planet is brutally powerful. Respect it. Preserve it.'

The World Wildlife Fund is speaking out after bloggers and twitterers condemned the environmental group over a tasteless and unapproved ad exploiting the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York's World Trade Center.

The online ad shows a swarm of airplanes about to attack New York with a caption reading: "The tsunami killed 100 times more people than 9/11. The planet is brutally powerful. Respect it. Preserve it."

The ad bears the WWF's trademark panda logo.

It began drawing attention Tuesday when it won a best of 2009 award from The One Club, a non-profit group that promotes excellence in advertising, says the New York Daily News.

But the WWF says the image was created on specifications by a Brazilian ad agency and was rejected.

"WWF strongly condemns this offensive and tasteless ad, and did not authorize its production or publication," the group said in a news release issued late Tuesday.

"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."

Officials with The One Club did not return the paper's phone calls.