15 August 2011

Beware Employees In Ad Campaigns

Cathay Pacific, probably one of the more conservative of airlines, has found itself rocked by a rather embarrassing scandal involving a male and female as seen in a flight cockpit in - well - a delicate pose.

Cathay has identified the people involved and both are "no longer" with Cathay.

This has somewhat upset the apple cart with the employee focused ad campaign. As CNN reports:

"The embarrassing episode has now affected Cathay's newest phase of its "People and Service" marketing campaign, which uses the catchphrase "the team who go the extra mile to make you feel special."

I bet there are now a number of airlines scanning the records of their employees who have appeared in ads or are about to - they really want to make sure that this sort of thing doesn't sully the good name of an airline.

Oh for the old days when Flight Attendants were dolled up to look like they were available and made to appear sexy for the then largely male audience. (Ed that was a joke).

Recently a Ryanair FA was exposed as moonlighting as a porn actress. Somewhat made MOL's promise of free oral sex on the proposed international version of the cut price airline more real!

It is actually an amusing and perhaps cautionary tale. I have written before however that there needs to be a strong sense of care when dealing with this sort of campaign. Delta for example talks about its people who make the difference. And they do. However for quite a few Delta purchased flights - you actually dont come near a Delta employee.

Be wise!

Cheers

No comments: