Monday 25 November 2013

Australian Flight Attendants Call for Ban on the Sexiest Airline Ad Ever

Flight attendants are up to their sexy mischief again, right? Wrong. On Monday we caught you up on the most recent perk being given to male Aeroflot VIPs, a calendar filled with some of the Russian airline's flight attendants being very, very naked. This gift was in some ways an implicit response to an arguably more provocative ad from Russian LCC Avianova, which involves bikini-clad stewardesses soaping down an airplane for no discernible reason (cost-cutting maybe?).

Don't worry, you can view the whole titillating commercial below, but first let's discuss how Australia's flight attendants are calling for a ban on it.

The Flight Attendants Association down under is petitioning the International Transport Federation to put a stop to Avianova-style travel advertising, which they consider to be over-the-top demeaning to women. The basic claim isn't so much an abstract argument about sexism in advertising, although that's definitely included. The real issue is one of potential sexual harassment. If male passengers are told and shown that female flight attendants are sex objects, as the reasoning goes they're more liable to treat female flight attendants as sex objects. The result is that you have more drunk douchebags grabbing the thighs of more stewardesses in the middle of more flights.
Oh, so that's how you wash you an airplane wheel? Airlines, you've been doing it wrong!

The thing is, we're not sure what, if anything, can technically be done about the spots. The Russians aren't really known for their responsiveness when it comes to outside requests for internal regulation. And as we mentioned on Monday, the entire country is kind of sex-soaked in their advertising, so it'll be an uphill climb to even convince them that there's a problem.

That said, even by our fairly libertine standards, the calendar and this commercial might be a bit much. Take a look, figure out what you think, and sound off in the comments


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