According to a July 2, 2009 Reuters news release, an airline has made a recording of its passenger safety briefing by filming a pilot and cabin crew who are wearing only body paint on their otherwise nude bodies. Call me a fuddy-duddy, call me a Doubting Thomas, call me a cab, but I’m not sure it will work, at least not to achieve the ends they say they are seeking.
I watched the YouTube video and it’s not all that suggestive because nothing untoward is actually displayed. The untoward is, of course, what the passengers will be looking for, instead of how to inflate a life vest, when to use an oxygen mask or where to find the emergency exits. Forget all of that stuff – they’ll be trying to see the nakedness of strangers. It stands to reason that, if it takes near nudity to get passengers to watch, they won’t be paying much attention to anything else.
I know I’m playing You-know-who’s advocate here, but a passenger who is injured in a crash, or some other incident, such as a hard landing, might argue that he or she was diverted from the important information by all that paint, and therefore didn’t know what to do when disaster struck.
Inject sex into a subject and the original subject withers in contrast. That’s also because, when you use a diversion as a draw, people are drawn to the diversion itself. In this case, the safety message may get lost in all of that peek-a-booing. It really is a sign of the times, though, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some airline doesn’t come up with the slogan, “Safety is Sexy!”
A friend of mine watched the video and remarked, “Once passengers realize they aren’t going to see any real nudity, they’re going to lose interest pretty quickly and the airline will be back to Square One in terms of people paying attention. Then she added, “To tell you the truth, the music and the spot itself is cute enough to make me want to watch, sans the body paint. So, if they find the video is a hit with passengers, it may very well be the “upbeat-ness” of the whole thing, rather than the nudity.”
My husband has a knack for highlighting the silliness of things and came in as the video was ending. He looked over my shoulder at the Captain, who was wearing, on his head, the only scrap of real fabric, and said, “Wow! They did a really good job of painting on his hat!”
If they can do a good job of flying the plane, more power to them. Kind of tacky though, unprofessional. Must not be proud of their uniform.
I saw that video, too, and unless I had known the crew was wearing body paint, I don’t think I would have noticed they weren’t wearing uniforms. As ridiculous as the ad is, that it got our attention means the airline accomplished at least one of its advertising goals. It will be interesting to see how long they run it and how they outdo themselves the next time.