2009-07-04 10:14:11
By RAY LILLEY, Associated Press Writer Ray Lilley, Associated Press Writer
Fri Jul 3, 7:37 am ET
WELLINGTON, New Zealand New Zealand's national airline has adopted a cheeky
way to encourage passengers to watch its in-flight safety video: The cabin
crew's uniforms are nothing but body paint.
The "Bare Essentials of Safety," screening in the cabins of planes flying Air
New Zealand's main domestic routes, has gone viral online. It had 1.2 million
YouTube views by Friday, four days after it was launched.
In the video, three cabin staff and a pilot, all in full body paint applied to
look like their uniforms, talk viewers through the aircraft's safety
procedures.
A demonstration seat belt, life jacket and arm rests are strategically
positioned during the 3 1/2-minute video to protect the cabin crew's ...
discretion. Passengers are shown ogling, mostly in appreciation.
The body paint idea is also being used in a series of television advertisements
in New Zealand for the airline, which include the promise: "At Air New Zealand,
our fares have nothing to hide."
One ad even features chief executive Rob Fyfe in body paint.
"We think in tough times there's a premium for making people smile, and it
gives the opportunity to stand out in a crowd," Air New Zealand's marketing
general manager Steve Bayliss told The Associated Press.
Each crew member spent about three hours having the body paint applied.
The video needed "a little bit of a hint, but every frame has to be as modest
as anything you see at the local swimming pool or the beach in summer," Bayliss
said.
After all, the people in the ads are not models or actors but work colleagues,
he said.