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Home » Air New Zealand » Tacky Air New Zealand Billboard Merits Scorn
Air New Zealand

Tacky Air New Zealand Billboard Merits Scorn

Matthew Klint Posted onDecember 21, 2010 5 Comments

Lately, Air New Zealand’s ad campaigns have teetered on the borderline of risque and inappropriate. While I thought their their three-part squirrel ad campaign was in poor taste, I at least (embarrassingly) chuckled at the double entendres. NZ’s latest billboard, which appeared in Nelson, New Zealand and advertises "fares lower than grandma’s boobs" is not only vulgar, it is humorless.

I held off on posting about this for a few days in hopes of finding a picture of the ad, but after public outcry erupted in New Zealand, the airline quickly removed the billboard and issued a half-hearted apology (apologizing if anyone "was offended" — which is worse than not apologizing at all!).

I realize that culture is different and more laid back in New Zealand, but when I compare their ads to United’s brilliant advertisements or Lufthansa’s "there’s no better way to fly" campaign or Korean Air’s beautiful ads, I just wonder why NZ has felt the need to sink to the gutter.

My expertise is law and political science, not marketing, but it seems clear to me this was just another ploy by NZ to get people talking about them. And I’m certainly not going to boycott NZ because of their below the belt advertisements. In fact, I intend to go out of my way to fly them between London and Los Angeles next year. But was the ad necessary?

I hope NZ uses this incident to change their ad focus from puerile humor to something more fitting of one of the world’s best airlines.

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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5 Comments

  1. Matthew Reply
    December 21, 2010 at 12:44 am

    Please let me know if you think I am being too prudish…

  2. Darren Reply
    December 21, 2010 at 4:50 am

    I think a limited amount of these ads are fun & fine, actually, but NZ shouldn’t flood the market with excessive humorish ads… they need to maintain their already positive brand strength. I enjoy ads which push the envelope a bit, but respect the criticism. I am, though, even more interested in which ads of United’s you find to be “brilliant”. 😉

  3. Matthew Reply
    December 21, 2010 at 5:56 am

    @Darren: Though I hate that weird fish ad, I love most of UA’s ads the last few years. My favorites:

    http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6dr4p_united-airlinesy-new-ad-heart-portr_news

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU5DasW5nUY

    And my favorite:
    http://yeahthatcommercial.com/video.php?id=870

    Doesn’t that make you proud to fly UA? 😉

  4. Darren Reply
    December 21, 2010 at 2:54 pm

    @Matthew: I like those ads, but I’m tired of the animated series United has been stuck on for years. The new business and first cabins are fantastic, and I think they’d draw some real attention by showing clips of the actual seats and cabins vs. cartoons. I like American’s ads in that respect since they show real people and real airplanes (although they also neglect the cabin shots). That said, however, it is up to personal taste, but I do have a Master’s in marketing 😉

  5. Matthew Reply
    January 29, 2011 at 5:34 pm

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/marketing/news/article.cfm?c_id=14&objectid=10702945

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