What’s with the aviation industry?

southwestern-1.jpgThe Southwest Airline blog posted enthusiastically about how they’ve wrapped one of their planes with an advert for Sports Illustrated magazine:

This definitely seals the deals on Southwest Airlines’ FUN and edgy factor!

Err, well, that’s one way to see it. This is the same airline, of course, which chucked a woman off her flight because they considered her outfit too revealing.

As a commenter on the Wired post says:

Promoting SI on a plane is fine, but how about putting an SI cover with Venus Williams holding up a Wimbledon trophy instead?

Of course, this follows hot on the heels of Virgin Atlantic’s advert that we were all astounded that the Advertising Standards Agency decided wasn’t sexist at all. Then there was Ryanair’s ‘sexy schoolgirl’ ads, and their “beds and blowjobs” gimmick last summer. Then there’s Sprint Air in the US, which played on the “MILF” thing.

Flight attendents don’t like this either, as you might imagine. In response to the last example, their US union said:

“For Spirit flight attendants, the sexist and shameful advertising that management continues to associate our carrier with is embarrassing and diminishes our role as safety professionals,” said Deborah Crowley, AFA-CWA Spirit President. “As the face of the airline to many passengers, it is embarrassing for Spirit flight attendants to work for a management team with such little regard for so many outstanding employees.

(H/T solobassstever)