Let's make airport screening easier, ads say

The U.S. Travel Association's "Be trusted" campaign advocates creating a "Trusted Traveler" program that would provide quicker airport screenings for flyers who submit to background checks and meet other criteria, with the greater goal being a boost in revenue and industry jobs. Ads show citizens we should apparently let waltz on planes with minimal fuss. Those cleared for takeoff include business-suited, middle-aged white guy Peter, who we're assured "is a tax attorney, not a terrorist"; young black woman Gina, a "marketing consultant"; Asian woman Carol, a "mother of three"; and Katie, a "nine-year-old kid from Tulsa." Now, I could attempt an intellectual discussion of the ethical, slippery-slope aspects of adopting such a policy. But I'm really not that bright, and my objections are more basic. Simply put: The folks in these ads are the very people we should be keeping off planes! Who wants to get trapped between an attorney and a marketing consultant on a cross-country flight, with lawyer yakking nonstop about "easements" and the rising price of nannies, and the marketer bitching about how "clients just don't understand"? That obnoxious Air New Zealand puppet would make a better seatmate. As for 9-year-olds, no thanks—I'll take my chances with the terrorists. See the other ads after the jump.

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Richard Simmons: fit to fly Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand, whose wacky mile-high antics we've written about many times before, has scored another viral hit with this in-flight safety video featuring Richard Simmons. You may remember Air New Zealand's suggestive squirrel, failed cougar contest, and naked flight attendants. But all that pales in comparison to the supernova of specialness that is Mr. Simmons. The three-minute clip, called "Fit to Fly," is fabulous fun. "Stretch it out and lose that baggage. Stretch it up to the overhead locker," Richard cries ebulliently. "Stretch and slide, yeah, you're a giraffe!" This replaces last year's rugby-themed safety video and is already far more popular. It was created by New Zealand creative agency .99 and also includes celebrity appearances by Amazing Race presenter Phil Keoghan, television personality Paul Henry, Temepara George of the Silver Ferns netball team and Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe. Can't get enough? Check the behind-the-scenes video after the jump.

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Filed under .99, Air New Zealand, Airlines, Celebrity endorsements, Cullers, New Zealand
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Snoop mixes with wrong crowd in airline ad

Air New Zealand's bug-eyed bush-baby spokescharacter, Rico, really has to go. As some observers have pointed out, bush babies aren't native to New Zealand—that would account for his lack of Kiwi accent. Plus, the character is just offensive. A little history: Earlier ads had him leering at women passengers and making lewd comments about them. Ha ha? This time he's laying down some "dope" rhymes, surrounded by hot babes in Snoop Dogg's crib. Even the likable, laid-back stoner rapper can't save this video. Snoop, what were you thinking? He's not the only Hollywood star to get caught up in a travel-ad controversy lately. Kobe Bryant sidled up to Turkish Airways, and in the process, ticked off Los Angeles's massive Armenian American community (which also happens to be packed full of Laker fans). Guys, do some research next time. Maybe during your next African vacation?

Filed under Air New Zealand, Airlines, New Zealand, Stanley
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Kobe Bryant throws up an air ball for airline

Here's how to stir up controversy with the sizable and vocal Armenian American community in Los Angeles: Get cozy with the Turks. Kobe Bryant, the Lakers star, found this out when he signed a two-year deal to endorse Turkish Airlines. Protests, outrage and threatened boycotts (which never seemed to materialize) followed. Now, the first commercial launches, leaving a lot of people asking if this campaign is really worth all the hubbub it's caused. It's not even very good, and it's certainly not an original idea. Kobe and a chef-of-the-sky switch places and try each other's jobs. Yawn. (Is a short white guy getting pummeled on the basketball court always good for a laugh? Nope.) Bryant, a longtime pitchman in the U.S. and one of the NBA's most famous faces worldwide, couldn't possibly have needed the money. To make this dustup worthwhile will take something more substantial than the ad itself.

Filed under Airlines, Celebrity endorsements, Controversy, Kobe Bryant, Stanley
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Spanair delights travelers on Christmas Eve

Traveling on Christmas Eve is no fun, unless you happened to be on Spanair flight JK5208 from Barcelona to the Canary Islands this year. When they arrived at baggage claim, they each received their own personal Christmas present on the carousel. For once, it pays to check a bag! Agency: Shackleton in Madrid. Via Adverblog.

Filed under Airlines, Europe, Nudd, Shackleton
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JetBlue, Mullen now messing with Jets fans

JetBlue and Mullen's current campaign shows that things people put up with in air travel wouldn't fly in other walks of life. This is obviously true, such as the TSA groping. Its latest effort drives home the point that you expect control over your entertainment. It chose to highlight this by having an intrepid actress play a bartender at a New York City bar filled with Jets fans. She turns the televisions to Steel Magnolias in the middle of a Jets game, eliciting a predictably insane reaction from patrons. It's an interesting comparison, although I think it misses the mark. People at a bar rarely have control over what's being shown there. This bar chose to show the Jets game, not another game or a movie. I thought the whole point of JetBlue's DirecTV service—where each person picks what they want to watch—is the opposite.

Filed under Airlines, JetBlue, Morrissey, Mullen
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JetBlue now tormenting folks on the ground

Rogue flight attendant Steve Slater would probably approve of JetBlue's new credo: "If you wouldn't take it on the ground, don't take it in the air." The carrier's first ads from Mullen use hidden cameras in Manhattan to illustrate the point. See one spot below, and four more after the jump. In one, a cabbie crushes his passengers' legs by pushing his seat all the way back. In another, a street vendor dispenses tiny cups of soda to flummoxed customers who paid for a whole can. What's the big deal? New York service people always behave that way. As for the guy in the crowded elevator who pisses off riders by pushing all the buttons, well, in the building where I work, I'm that guy. (If you don't like it, take the stairs.) In the best new JetBlue spot, CEO Dave Barger rides though a terminal's X-ray machine to demonstrate "transparency." Those who've suffered maddening delays and lost baggage probably wish they'd radiate him a couple hundred more times for good measure. And can they fry Air New Zealand's suggestive squirrel while they're at it? Oh, never mind. He'll probably end up on the in-flight menu.

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Filed under Airlines, Gianatasio, JetBlue, Mullen
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Suggestive squirrel pitches Air New Zealand

"You can lick the crack." That's one of many risqué, "misunderstood" lines delivered by an oddly accented faux-muppet squirrel in Air New Zealand's new campaign from Auckland ad agency .99. I think that pissed-off JetBlue flight attendant said something similar as he shimmied down the inflatable slide. In these spots, the furball flummoxes fellow passengers, who look like they're ready to give up acting after landing roles in these spots. The masturbation jokes take it a step too far, but then again, what do you expect from a carrier whose employees go naked at every opportunity? You board a plane expecting a buxom nude cabin crew, and wind up sitting next to a profane rodent. Mayday, mayday! See a second spot after the jump. Via Ads of the World.

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Filed under .99, Air New Zealand, Airlines, Gianatasio, New Zealand
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Flying is dreamy in global Virgin Atlantic ad

Virgin Atlantic has just released its first-ever global TV ad, the dreamlike 90-second extravaganza below from RKCR/Y&R, with the tagline, "Your airline's either got it or it hasn't." By "it," they apparently mean pilots who are rock stars and flight attendants who float around doing somersaults and falling into milk baths. Virgin passengers, meanwhile, shimmy through metal detectors and dance with 20-foot-high forks spearing shrimp the size of Vespas. The crew ends up standing on the wing of a plane, which usually only happens on US Airways flights. According to Virgin, the campaign "takes the viewer on a metaphorical flight—a surreal and glamorous world of airline iconography dramatizing how it feels to fly with the airline." It's certainly stylish. The music is a reworked version of Nina Simone's "Feeling Good," a song used expertly in this old promo for the fourth season of Six Feet Under. Via Ads of the World.

Filed under Airlines, Nudd, RKCR, Virgin Atlantic, Y&R
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Southwest's bag cops stake out competitors

Southwest is back to bagging on its competitors for luggage fees in GSD&M's new campaign, "Good Cop Bag Cop," with spots running pretty heavily during NFL games. The ads, with their 1970s crime-movie vibe, are quite a bit more clever than the first round of "Bags Fly Free." If you're wondering, the $120 that's consistently mentioned throughout the spots is what you'd pay to check two bags roundtrip on United and American. (Southwest is nice enough not to point out that those same competitors usually charge an astronomical $100 each way for a third checked bag. Yowch.) See one new ad below, and three more after the jump.

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Filed under Airlines, Griner, GSD&M Idea City, Southwest
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Sydney airport helps you manage your rage

Here's a timely spot by Lunch Partners for the Sydney International Airport dealing with the topic of air rage—or actually, pre-air rage (referred to here, faux-medically, as "pre-flight tension," or PFT). The actress deserves a prize for her jet-fueled, over-the-top, hyper-bitchy performance as a harried traveler who's fast becoming a harridan before she even gets on the plane. It was filmed before the JetBlue media storm, but the husband, who looks suitably terrified, could sure use an inflatable slide to escape this marriage. The ads (one more after the jump) send viewers to easePFT.com.au, where you too can learn how not to be a complete stressed-out asshole to the spouse and/or flight attendant in your life.

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Filed under Airlines, Australia, Gianatasio, Lunch Partners
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Spirit Air (of course) exploits JetBlue's saga

If any rival airline was going to make fun of JetBlue and its flight-attendant saga, it was Spirit Airlines—whose previous adventures in current-events humor included a Tiger Woods sale and an oily beaches sale. This time, they've e-mailed customers a $35 coupon that shows a guy holding two beers and jumping, Steven Slater like, down an inflatable exit slide. "Don't be blue, slide down to low fares," says the copy. Stay classy, Spirit Air. (By the way, is that Donny Deutsch in the photo?) Via Consumerist.

Filed under Airlines, JetBlue, Nudd, Spirit Airlines
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JetBlue isn't laughing at Steven Slater jokes

Whatever else JetBlue takes away from the Steven Slater episode, this lesson should be near the top: Next time, don't get into it with Andy Borowitz. Read the back-and-forth that @JetBlue (and @MHJohnston) had with the comedian below, and after the jump. Via Gawker.

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JetBlue flight attendant: a PR hero or zero?

JetBlue is no stranger to bad PR. Just look back at the Valentine's Day storm of 2007. But this week, we have a much more interesting crisis at JetBlue: the behavior of flight attendant Steven Slater. After getting into it with an allegedly abusive passenger on Monday afternoon, Slater snapped—he got on the PA system and reportedly said: "To the passenger who just called me a motherfucker, fuck you. I've been in this business 28 years, and I've had it." He then apparently grabbed a beer, activated the plane's emergency chute, slid out, ran to his car and drove home. (He was later arrested and faces charges including criminal mischief and reckless endangerment.) So, what's the upshot for JetBlue? Certainly you don't want a flight attendant initiating emergency sequences because he's pissed. On the other hand, the guy has become a folk hero for refusing to take the sort of crap that's all too common on flights these days. Has Slater damaged the JetBlue brand by being an impetuous moron, or burnished it by having the courage to reject the longstanding (and frankly, stupid) notion that the customer is always right? It's obvious how the Facebook group "I hate the motherfucker that called Steven Slater a motherfucker" feels about it. What about you? In the meantime, JetBlue can feel free to use our suggested new logo, posted above. UPDATE: "When authorities found Slater [at his home] he seemed to be in the midst of having sexual relations." Yeah, folk hero.

Filed under Airlines, Controversy, JetBlue, Nudd
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Spirit Airlines knows you enjoy oily beaches

Spirit Airlines, whose previous attempts at humor have included a Tiger Woods-themed sale, has now put together a tasteless oil-spill-related promotion (themed "Best Protection," or "BP") for flights to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Atlantic City, N.J., and Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The tagline, "Check out the oil on our beaches," leads us to assume their target audience is Andrew Dice Clay fans and kids who buy shirts from Spencer's Gifts. That it's a sexist, badly timed, poorly articulated joke at the expense of BP's Deepwater Horizon spill is self-evident, but the ads are also misleading. Associating that kind of sexy imagery with anywhere in New Jersey is blatant false advertising.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

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Dirty girls clean up Russian carrier's aircraft

Paris Hilton's car-wash spot for Carl's Jr. was alright, but it pales in comparison to this plane-wash spot for Russian airline Avianova, in which a bunch of bikini babes lather up one of the carrier's planes—and then themselves. Avianova is a low-cost airline, but they're clearly willing to pay a little extra to get the cleaning done right. Via Copyranter.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

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American Airlines ad quietly salutes military

There's some pretty superb and subtle acting going on in this American Airlines spot, "Putting Them First," which highlights the carrier's pre-boarding for active military personnel. The ad, by TM Advertising, is obviously reminiscent of Budweiser's 2005 commercial that showed soldiers being applauded by strangers in the airport, but the new spot seems to be equally appreciative while grounded in the reality of 2010. In recent years, desert camouflage has become a daily sight at every major airport in America, making it difficult to know how best to show your appreciation for the startlingly young men and women serving overseas. American deserves credit for finding a way to capture that awkwardness, along with the quiet respect that lies behind it.

—Posted by David Griner

Filed under Airlines, American Airlines, Griner, Military, TM Advertising
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For Winsor, crowdsourcing is a family affair

You have to hand it to John Winsor, former Crispin exec and founder of Victors & Spoils. He really walks the walk when it comes to his belief in the power of crowdsourcing. His 8-year-old son Harry recently started doodling airplanes, and decided to send a rather crude design of a firefighting plane to Boeing—which responded with some legalese that it doesn't accept unsolicited ideas. Winsor the Elder quickly took the issue to his blog, where it was seized on as a potential conference case study by the Twittering class. It turns out the story has a happy ending: Boeing has nothing against children sending in plane drawings, and it has adjusting its policies for handling them. And little Harry got his dad's fledgling shop a New York Times writeup. Now, I'll be worried if Boeing does start using kiddie designs for planes.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Filed under Airlines, Boeing, Morrissey, Victors & Spoils
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AirTran, Southwest trade advertising insults

AirTran and Southwest are having a nice little scuffle in their latest ads. First, Southwest came out with a TV spot showing its "rampers" on the tarmac taunting a rival plane (belonging to AirTran, though the logo is blurred out) with their sagging bellies painted with the message: "Bags fly free." In response, AirTran whipped up a spot (running online, not on TV) showing people in cow suits preparing to board a plane—a reference to Southwest's supposedly notorious cattle-call boarding process. (Also check out the guy on the AirTran plane absent-mindedly giving the camera the finger.) AirTran says it created the cow ad after getting "a number of inquiries" from its own employees asking if the airline would be fighting back. Fear not, AirTran workers, your employer dipped into the bonus fund to join this pissing contest. Good thing they went low-budget!

—Posted by David Gianatasio

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Spirit Airlines remains classy with latest ad

Spirit Airlines sure likes its risque house ads. Following up on on its Tiger Woods sale, the low-rent airline's copywriter has some juvenile fun with a winter promotion to diving-friendly destinations. Via @ischafer.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

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Air New Zealand cougar contest is grounded

You may remember Air New Zealand from when they slathered their flight staff with body paint last year. Now, their latest campaign is right on target with the apparent overall brand message: that your flight will have a happy ending. The mating habits of the New Zealand cougar are thoroughly explored in the long mockumentary posted below. Neither the notion of flying nor the details of the GrabASeat contest (ostensibly being promoted here) is mentioned in the 2:33 spot. If you're curious, the contest encourages women over 35 to send in pics with their "cougar mates" (who must be at least 10 years younger) to win a trip to a rugby tournament. The spot has sparked outrage from rape prevention groups and women's rights activists in New Zealand. Of course, that didn't stop 60 women from entering before Air New Zealand swiftly closed the contest. I'll admit, there's a lot to be offended by here. For example, my husband wanted to know, "What the hell is wrong with liking Enya?"

—Posted by Rebecca Cullers

Filed under Air New Zealand, Airlines, Cullers, New Zealand
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JetBlue has gift ideas for non-JetBlue fliers

Traditional agencies are far more likely to messenger me things than digital shops are. Maybe it's the bigger budgets, or the belief in old-school delivery channels. It also helps if you're off an account and don't care about the courier fees. JWT sent over a new six-page glossy fake holiday catalog it made for JetBlue, filled with products it supposedly created to help you cope with flying on other airlines. The 14 products include leather in a jar, for those uncomfortable cloth seats; a knee-jockey apparatus, to make up for the lack of legroom; depth goggles (above), to make the seat in front of you seem father away; and the Yumbro robot, to dispense snacks you won't be given for free. The catalog is also on the JetBlue Facebook page. If you try to buy a product, the page tells you it's out of stock due to high demand and gives you the option of going to JetBlue.com instead.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Filed under Airlines, Holidays, JetBlue, JWT, Morrissey
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Spirit Airlines' latest ad mocks Tiger Woods

The always-classy Spirit Airlines is striking while the iron is hot and holding an "Eye of the Tiger" fare sale—which it's advertising online with a cheesy Flash animation of a tiger driving into a fire hydrant. "It's a jungle out there!" says the copy. "Make sure you avoid all the obstacles and get the lowest fares." The carrier hasn't been this inspired since holding its "Many Islands, Low Fares" (MILF) sale a couple of years ago.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Previously on AdFreak:
Spirit Airlines not selling actual mullets
Spirit flight attendants despise apron logos

Filed under Airlines, Golf, Nudd, Spirit Airlines
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Alaska Air chases the gold with Apolo Ohno

"Stewardess, there's something outside the plane! It could be a gremlin, but it sort of looks like Dancing With the Stars winner and champion speed skater Apolo Ohno!" WongDoody's "Follow Apolo" campaign for Alaska Airlines features a plane wrapped in Ohno's image, billboards, banner ads and a Web site, as the carrier sponsors the skater's quest for Olympic gold this winter. They should work Bill Shatner into this. His histrionic yet credible Twilight Zone freakout over a destructive creature on an airplane wing is legendary. It'd be sweet to watch the big ham chew the scenery and hyper-annunciate lines like, "Good Lord! It's ... Apolo ... Oh-NO!"

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Previously on AdFreak:
Alaska Airlines spots stuck in the bathroom

Filed under Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Celebrity endorsements, Gianatasio, Olympics
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Air New Zealand testing ad ideas on Twitter

So, you've made some travel ads that blatantly mock the destinations you're promoting, and possibly Christianity as well. How do you know if you've crossed the line? Why, just ask Twitter! Air New Zealand has posted six potential ads on Twitpic, the service that lets you share images on Twitter. The 9,000 followers of @grabaseat were asked to "tell us what you think of these new ads." (You can read more about the campaign in the New Zealand Herald.) The responses have been mixed, with vague criticisms mixed in alongside actual constructive feedback. It's a commendable way to get easy input on ads before they launch more broadly, but I'm a bit surprised Air New Zealand would be ones for caution, seeing as how their flight crews are frequently naked and slathered in paint.

—Posted by David Griner

See also:
Air New Zealand employees strip for new ad
Air New Zealand also does long-form nudity

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