02 July 2009

Air NZ naked flight safety video

I've flown with Air New Zealand several times. I think they're a great airline with friendly staff, clean and comfortable planes and quite tolerable food. Despite the general antagonism that many Australians, including me to some extent, feel towards them for their role in the destruction of our former and best domestic airline Ansett (as a recap, Air New Zealand bought Ansett, then effectively raped and stripped it bare, and then shamefully cut it loose and hung it out to dry), I can accept that times have moved on and I still prefer to fly Air New Zealand when crossing the Tasman (note: only New Zealanders refer to the Tasman Sea, cringingly albeit affectionately, as "the ditch", or as they say it "the detch", just as they are the only nationality I have ever heard refer to the continent of Australia, rather than a person from Australia, as "Aussie" - but all joshing aside, I love New Zealand and New Zealanders).

Recently, the airline has been remaking its image in some sort of nude form, with a TV commercial featuring naked staff and a naked CEO. Today, they've garnered some "good news item" headlines for their new air safety video, which features naked cabin crew members in body paint uniforms. It's guaranteed to get even the most jaded frequent flyer to glance sideways from their magazine during the safety demonstration (not that you see anything even remotely jiggling).

It looks like the participating crew members all enjoyed themselves. I wonder how they auditioned? And more pertinently, after watching it, I do wonder if the safety video is subtitled into English?