After the City of New Plymouth on the North Island of New Zealand reacted to a change.org petition by considering banning g-string bikinis from public pools, Air New Zealand added flights to the South Pacific to give customers “freedom of choice” in their swimwear.
“Forget the indoor aquatic centres and the petitions that come with them. With more seats to the Pacific it’s time to escape to the beach and sunshine,” says Air New Zealand chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty.
“Customers will be smiling cheek to cheek with so many seats available. This summer is all about being a beach bum.”
They added capacity is available to Nadi, Fiji; Tonga; Raratonga; and Papeete, Tahiti.
The Auckland-based airline wasn’t always so bold staking out a position on female swimwear. A decade ago the carrier pulled its “Safety in Paradise” video which was released in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of Sports Illustrated 50th featuring Christie Brinkley, Jessica Gomes, Chrissy Teigen, Hannah Davis, and Ariel Meredith which showed the models demonstrating the buckling of a seat belt and putting on an oxygen mask while wearing bikinis on a beach.
Another change.org petition had launched in opposition to the sexism embedded in that video.
That Air New Zealand was forced to back off bikinis then, but embraces g-strings now, suggests we’re past peak woke even Down Under.
Recently flew NZ from JFK to AKL in Business Class. Nice crew, decent food, but terrible seat and very dated cabin.
@lavanderialarry They do intend to fix that, but AirNZ puts itself in the category of the idiots that put J seats that have no aisle access. A nonstarter for me.
ANZ ought to have a Micro-kini whilst topless campaign .
So progressive?
Meanwhile the Air NZ weight police are out in the terminal weighing every
carry on they can to see if they can fleece passengers pockets for more $$$
It’s a weird airline but then not a lot of choice out there in that region
First time I’ve paid attention to a flight safety video in 50 years!
I have to assume your tongue is firmly in cheek when you say that they added those flights as a reaction to a New Plymouth ordinance. The advertising campaign, yes.
I was surprised to find out years ago that Sweden had objected to ads on TV that “use sex” to sell products/services and would be on the case of advertisers for no reason other than that. But then again it has also been the country that has had prohibition on being able to dance at restaurants that served alcohol even rather recently. In other words, the “Swedish bikini team” of Señor Leff’s younger years were more acceptable in America than in Sweden and won’t be used as part of the SAS safety briefing video even and especially if the Swedish government had decided to stand by SAS instead of ditching it like the Norwegian government already had.
You mean it’s barely there wear. I don’t find it sexy. Why show all the goods? . Men are simple creatures. Leave something to the imagination girls.