I fly. A lot. And sometimes I think I could give the safety announcements at the start of the flight better than most of the crew.
But if I ever fly on Air New Zealand, well, I’ll be paying closer attention (the video is safe for work, unless you work at United Airlines).
That cracked me up. Uh, so to speak. They have a cute blooper reel, and a TV ad, too.
Love the song. Awesome. I can’t imagine this EVER happening in the US, though. More’s the pity.
Tip o’ the paint can lid to Fark.
If you went to BadAstronomy.com and found yourself here, never fear: the BA Blog has moved to its new home at Discover Blogs. The original BA site (with the Moon Hoax debunking and all that) is still online, too.
Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He has written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic, and fights misuses of science as well as praising the wonder of real science.
Contact me: The Bad Astronomer "at" gmail "dot" com
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July 10th, 2009 at 8:07 am
hahaha i love it
that was so cute and a great way to start the day
btw, the links for the videos are crossed
July 10th, 2009 at 8:15 am
Took me a quick second to get it. Still, a clever way to mix up the otherwise repetitive safety video! A shame that you’re right though, in the sense that some people would be up in arms over this if they tried to make something like this in North America.
July 10th, 2009 at 8:22 am
Phil, this is great advertisement by itself. The cheerfulness of the crew is infectious. Also agree, love the song. Makes me think of the blue sky, white sands and clear waters under the summer sun. And judging by their “clothes,” I think the crew is ready for the splash themselves.
Love the accent, too.
July 10th, 2009 at 8:34 am
The fun part of the video, I think, was how they all seemed on the verge of bursting out laughing.
July 10th, 2009 at 8:39 am
This would be acceptable in the US if they were all trying to kill each other, and there was tons of fake blood and explosions.
July 10th, 2009 at 8:40 am
OT: Phil and Bad Astronomy got mentioned on the Ed Show yesterday. He was talking about that idiot creationist in AZ saying the Earth is only 6000 years old. He gave Phil credit for pointing out the irony of the fact that they were talking about uranium (which helps tell us how old the Earth is) when she says this nonsense. I was thinking “hooray Ed” but then he laughs and says the Earth is a billion years old. Win and Fail all in one. O_o
July 10th, 2009 at 8:47 am
They must have used very thick paint to simulate the shoes.
July 10th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Speaking of United Airlines, I hear they break guitars:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo
July 10th, 2009 at 8:56 am
Hey there Phil, you should add a link to their site: http://www.nothingtohide.co.nz
July 10th, 2009 at 9:00 am
The first officer bears an uncanny resemblance to Jason Segel of “How I Met Your Mother.”
July 10th, 2009 at 9:01 am
@NBwaW
Prosthetics applied with spirit gum, surely.
July 10th, 2009 at 9:04 am
@Todd W.: That’s a possibility. I assume the pilot’s hat was pure CGI.
July 10th, 2009 at 9:11 am
@NBwaW
The hat could have been sophisticated French hair sculpting…
July 10th, 2009 at 9:13 am
If that’s the standard uniform for Air New Zealand flight crew, I think I’ll start flying with them too.
July 10th, 2009 at 9:24 am
I’m a huge fan of body paint, at least if I can share the making with a nice model of the other sex, but I haven’t tried that one as it seemed too stuffy. I changed my mind.
Hmm. Wonder if a restaurant would accept the “tie”, or if I would be out on my bare ass?
July 10th, 2009 at 9:26 am
Seems there’s some mixup with the Bloopers reel URL. I found them here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsLy9Y7KsVI
July 10th, 2009 at 9:36 am
Ah – the benefits of being descendants of people the ‘mother country’ didn’t want. New Zealand was never a penal colony though and they seem to have a better sense of humour than we do in Aus (maybe that speaks for itself).
@Stone Age Scientist
We in Aus love the NZ (read that as en-zed) accent as well. It is a common joke here as to how they pronounce their ‘i’ like an ‘e’ (eg: to Australians a New Zealander saying ’six’ sounds like ’sex’). I’m not sure if your US readers will understand this – I had enough problems getting people to pronounce my own name correctly while I was in the US (If you are interested it’s Shane – with a flat a, in most cases the closest I could get sounded like Shine or Shun to me). And yet, there is a famous cowboy story (and movie, starring Alan Ladd set in the northern states) of the same name. I was named after the main character in that movie.
Anyway – we here in the southern climes (the antipodes as the Brit’s would say) don’t have quite the hangups about nudity and the human body that seem to infect those in the upper hemisphere. In fact the whole ‘wardrobe malfunction’ experienced by Ms. Jackson would have been celebrated here if it was Kylie Minogue at an AFL game
All I can say is – sucks to be you
July 10th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Wow – I was so taken by the exuberance of these guys. Their mirth was captivating.
Now if Richard Wiseman can just setup a test to see if people learn better from naked airline films than clothed.
For more naked airline action you may enjoy “Where the boys aren’t 17: All Girl Airline”. LOL
July 10th, 2009 at 10:23 am
That’s so sexy.
And educational, too!
Not unlike your blog, Phil.
Wait, wut?
July 10th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Huh, is it my imagination, or did that safety guide actually made me pay attention? Wow, the first remarkable airline safety video I have ever seen. ^_^ Partly in part of the cheerfulness of the guys in the guide.
July 10th, 2009 at 10:32 am
[...] Would you pay more attention to the safety video on your airline if it looked something like this? [...]
July 10th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Speaking of United …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo
July 10th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Took me a minute to figure out they were wearing body paint.
I LOVE body paint. Clothed and naked at the same time. I’ve seen some very creative brush work at a few concerts, the last one being the Eco fest south of Atlanta in 2007. It was while Phil Lesh and Friends were playing.
Damn, I miss Dead shows,,,
GAry 7
July 10th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Phil’s “blooper reel” link just takes me to a normal (non-nude) version of the safety video.
July 10th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Phil:
The Blooper reel is incorrectly linked to another version of the full video. This one should work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsLy9Y7KsVI&feature=channel
July 10th, 2009 at 10:51 am
I’m thrilled with the equal play to nekkid mens and womens. Hooray!
July 10th, 2009 at 11:14 am
I watched that whole thing, even after reading your blog post, and did not notice anything unusual until the very end. Not very observant today, I guess!
July 10th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Curse the strategically placed lifejacket!!!!!
July 10th, 2009 at 11:32 am
The actual blooper real is video YsLy9Y7KsVI (just substitute that for whatever follows “v=” in the youtube url). I can see why the part where she’s rubbing the life jacket didn’t make it.
July 10th, 2009 at 11:35 am
I posted this one on another blog site a week ago or so and several people didn’t watch closely enough and wondered why I posted it!
July 10th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Nice CG animations!
July 10th, 2009 at 11:45 am
That was very clever of them.
I’m getting an idea for the next Skepchick calendar … involving painted lab coats …
July 10th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
You fly a lot? You are aware, aren’t you, that aerodynamics is only a theory?
July 10th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
TAM is streaming on UStream!
July 10th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
It’s a damn shame they wouldn’t use something like this in America — as prudish as Americans can seem, they wouldn’t take their eyes off this video for its entire duration. Lives would be saved in the event of the crash, as these safety methods would be fixed in Americans’ minds along with feelings of pleasure.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
The ad is great…”I do love a man in uniform.”
July 10th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
In the TV ad: when the Flight Attendant is dispensing coffee – shouldn’t she ask, would you like milk?
%)
J/P=?
July 10th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
do you suppose we don’t see naked singularities because they are hidden by body paint?
July 10th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
How about this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivjybzdXVmI&feature=related
Super awesome rapping flight attendant!
The guy works for Southwest airlines.
Its not naked people but it does have a nice U.S. touch to it. Its cool nevertheless
July 10th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Body paint is so more or less entirely outside my experience that I actually had to read the comments before I got it.
*sigh*
As to “this couldn’t happen in America”, you might be surprised. American media has actually been using SFW nudity in television and advertising for a while. To be sure, this is an unique campaign. I’m just saying, it’s not actually outside of America’s cultural/media boundaries.
July 10th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Here is the behind the scenes video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnhVcD74i14
July 10th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
I caught this video the other day and thought it was a riot.
July 10th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
I love their accents!
July 10th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Like Saganist I didn’t catch it until the last few seconds. Even though through the whole thing I was wondering why the males uniforms looked so wierd!
July 10th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Brilliant! Caught what was going on fairly quickly, but would’ve taken quite a bit longer without having read Phil’s post before watching the video. I’d have definitely noticed that the look of the uniforms was off somehow, but wouldn’t have figured out that it was body paint as quickly.
July 10th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
I flew Air New Zealand last week for work and didn’t see a single naked person. And I would’ve liked to as well, simply because the two hostesses on my flight were quite the lookers.
July 10th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
*sigh* At least one person will complain about this video’s “pr0nografeticational” connotations. “Come on, kids are gonna watch it,” they’ll say.
Alas, you Puritan-wannabe, this was meant for Aussies. You know, people who have a more mature outlook on nudity. Not like that “land of the free, home of the brave,” where being brave enough to be free of clothes puts you behind bars.
Damn Puritan legacy. They shoulda been dunked in Europe before they made their way to the Americas.
July 10th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Man I’m such a tool. I was trying to find humor in the part about the life jackets because I completely missed the actual joke. Just now got it.
July 10th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
The NY Times had an article about this last week. In the TV Ad, one of the baggage handlers is actually the CEO of the airline! Except for him, everyone else is really real pilots, baggage handlers, airline attendants, etc.
July 10th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
That was the funniest thing I’ve seen all day! I was half way through the video before I got the joke. I love the levety that it was done in. Actually cheered me up after a mighty stressful day.
July 10th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
@Richard : “*sigh* At least one person will complain about this video’s “pr0nografeticational” connotations. ”
This ad has been on TV in NZ for a couple of weeks now and I haven’t heard any negative comments about it! Yay!
” …this was meant for Aussies…”
As a New Zealander, I sure hope you aren’t getting Kiwis and Aussies mixed up…
@ Doctor Atlantis: “Wow – I was so taken by the exuberance of these guys. Their mirth was captivating.”
They are often just like that on board, too, which is fun after the general stress of having to catch a flight. I’m pretty sure I have had both of those male flight attendants on some of my flights.
And if anyone is wondering, the song is by a New Zealand singer named Gin.
July 10th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Accent? What accent? What are you talking about?
July 10th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
they’re naked as, bro!
Choice, eh..
July 11th, 2009 at 12:23 am
Damn those New Zealunders talk funny.
July 11th, 2009 at 12:33 am
OK, who’s going to be the first to crack a lame “Air NZ staff are big Down Under” joke?
July 11th, 2009 at 1:13 am
41. Tamsin Says:
” …this was meant for Aussies…”
As a New Zealander, I sure hope you aren’t getting Kiwis and Aussies mixed up…
Hey, we’re AMERICANS… anything south of Mexico is considered either ‘Aussies’ or “somewhere there in South America”.
J/P=?
July 11th, 2009 at 1:48 am
I think you might find this video funny. It is a SW airline attendent rapping out all the safety information, he is actually pretty good. Video Here.
July 11th, 2009 at 2:16 am
This ad has been screening in New Zealand for a few weeks now and it is quite funny. Just remember saying New Zealand is part of Australia is as bad as saying Canada is part of the US – they are separate countries.
July 11th, 2009 at 2:51 am
@Brian: Well technically, they are part of Australia. Since Australia is also a continent. It’s like saying Canada is part of north america…
July 11th, 2009 at 4:20 am
Geography lesson (and this from an American): New Zealand is [i]not[/i] part of Australia. It’s an island, and no more part of the nearby continent of Australia than England is a part of Europe or Japan a part of Asia.
What, you thought those were correct, too? Shame.
July 11th, 2009 at 5:29 am
@JediBear:
what you meant was Britain (or possibly the British Isles) rather than England!
July 11th, 2009 at 5:50 am
There is also a making-of video:
GnhVcD74i14 (paste together with the usual YouTube URL adornments, steep, enjoy).
July 11th, 2009 at 8:32 am
Can’t imagine this ever happening in the US? Apparently you forgot about the Hooter’s Airline or how Southwest Airlines got its start.
England is a part of Europe, just as Japan is a part of Asia. New Zealand is geographically part of the Australian continent.
http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/imaged.htm
July 11th, 2009 at 9:42 am
Just saw Rebecca Watson getting married, on the fed with Hrab playing music and Adam Savage bringing the rings. But no Phil in the picture. Oh, congrats Rebecca and Sid.
July 11th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Blooper Reel
July 11th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
complaints ahve already happened:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/2586336/Air-NZ-brushes-off-body-paint-complaints (link may last a couple of days only)
New Zealand’s advertising watchdog, the Advertising Standards Authority, has received a complaint about the advertisement from a viewer concerned that it was airing on TV at a time when children were watching with their parents.
“All genital areas were hidden but they left nothing to the imagination and [it] conjured pictures that none of us needed,” the complainant said.
In considering the complaint about the “Nothing to Hide” advertisement, the Advertising Standards Authority said while painted bottoms were shown, the use of nudity was not gratuitous and had been employed in a “tasteful manner”.
It ruled there had been no breach of the advertising codes as the advert was unlikely to cause widespread offence in the light of generally prevailing community standards
July 12th, 2009 at 3:09 am
[...] Via Bad Astronomy. [...]
July 12th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
I’d like to join the Mile High Club with that flight attendant Michaela.
July 12th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
I’ve just flown on AirNZ for work a couple of times in the last week and they play this video as the actual safety demonstration on the 737s – anecdotally I can attest that there is now quite a bit of attention being given to the safety video by me and my fellow passengers.
July 12th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
That is truly excellent. I’m kind of in the same boat, er, plane… I can practically recite the United speech by heart. (And sing “United Breaks Guitars” while I’m at it!) But this makes me want to go to New Zealand!
July 12th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
I’d love to give Air NZ big ups for this captivating campaign, but considering how awful they’ve been treating some of their cabin staff over a pay dispute, I’m gonna be the big fat downer.
The Air NZ chief has been “seen getting his hands dirty” by “doing the jobs his crew would do” as well as appearing in the body paint campaign. However, I very much doubt he’s getting paid what his crew gets paid, or would even agree he could subsist on such pay.
July 12th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Then again, sadly, there are always some humourless wowsers who don’t have a sense of fun or proportion – see
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=836740
***
Excerpt :
“…the cheeky campaign has left many Kiwis unimpressed, according to reports in the Sunday Star-Times newspaper.“The last thing I want to see when I fly is some fat Air NZ flight attendant’s rear end,” one disgruntled customer posted online.“I will be booking with Jetstar and Pacific Blue for all of my future domestic flying.” Another said: “Enough is enough, this is our national airline, not a strip joint! I for one won’t bother booking with you again.” One person even laid an official complaint with New Zealand’s advertising watchdog that children would find the ads “disturbing”.
****
Sheesh. The natural human body “disturbing”, as if we don’t all have one .. really, what’s wrong with these prudes?
Sigh. I loved it though it took me a while to get it too! THX BA. You beat our e-news by days.
July 12th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
@59&63:
according to Wikipedia (I require no further authority…)
“New Zealand is not on the same continental shelf and so is not part of the continent of Australia “…
so we’re continent-less!
Disc: NZ-er
July 12th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
ps “but is part of the submerged continent Zealandia”… sounds very exotic…!
July 13th, 2009 at 3:46 am
For those who need a quick guide to the difference between Ozzie and NZ, it’s simple:
If it’s geologically stable but EVERY SINGLE plant and animal is poisonous and trying to kill you – You are in Australia
If every plant and animal is harmless but the geography ITSELF is trying to kill you – You’re probably in New Zealand
Active volcanoes….where else do you put skifields?
July 13th, 2009 at 7:06 am
It’s a good advert but like all it doesn’t represent reality. Having flown Air NZ it’s a good thing that paint isn’t the standard uniform for many of the crew…
July 13th, 2009 at 7:12 am
@ Cairnos2
Excellent summary!
Additionally, a quarter of the NZ population live in a city that is situated around 49 volcanoes. And what’s more:
“The monogenetic nature of Auckland’s volcanoes has particular implications for volcanic hazards because in the event of an eruption, rather than one of the existing volcanoes becoming active, a new volcano will form. Because of this situation, a hazard map based on any one location cannot be drawn and the entire field has to be considered as under a threat of a future volcanic eruption.”
and
“there is every reason to expect eruptions in the future.”
From http://www.gns.cri.nz/what/earthact/volcanoes/nzvolcanoes/aucklandprint.htm
Two words: Ruh roh.
July 13th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
For some reason I just love the part in the blopper reel with her rubbing the life vest. I can’t figure out why such a simple thing makes me laugh.
July 14th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
@59: No there are not: not only is there an ocean between them, they are on separate continental plates.
July 14th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
@75: Very good.
@77: And downtown Wellington (the capital city) is built on landfill on a part of the harbour floor raised from an earthquake on the fault line the runs through the city… Also, apparently until quite recently there was no rule stopping people from building structures (e.g. buildings) straddling a fault line…
@ All: An old Aussie (Australian) nickname for New Zealand is “the shaky islands”.
July 15th, 2009 at 1:19 am
@Richard: “*sigh* At least one person will complain about this video’s “pr0nografeticational” connotations. “Come on, kids are gonna watch it,” they’ll say. Alas, you Puritan-wannabe, this was meant for Aussies. You know, people who have a more mature outlook on nudity. Not like that “land of the free, home of the brave,” where being brave enough to be free of clothes puts you behind bars.
Damn Puritan legacy. They shoulda been dunked in Europe before they made their way to the Americas.”
—–
who are you talking to here? You’re ranting against what you assume will be American complainers, but there are none. You must be one angry person to randomly rant against an imaginary post.
I live in Texas of all places, and my city allows women to be topless in public. There’s even a popular nude beach at the nearby lake. Granted, it’s not the French Riviera…
Funny, I hear from Europeans that the US is too prude and religious (we do have Pat Robertson after all), then I hear from my Asian friends (not the Japanese ones of course) that we’re too promiscuous, and the Iranian ones say we’re too immoral and godless. (Yes I have friends from all these areas; I’m in engineering grad school.) The truth is we have elements of all of these so whichever element your culture is lacking is going to be the thing we get insulted for. That’s fine. These people can rest assured we have many people from wherever they’re from, contributing to our culture.