'It objectified women': Air New Zealand safety video featuring bikini-clad models dropped after thousands sign petition calling it sexist

  • The petition against the video was signed by more than 7,000 people
  • Air New Zealand denied it had removed the footage due to public pressure
  • Sports Illustrated 50th anniversary film featured half-naked women

By Carol Driver

Published: 03:34 EST, 4 July 2014 | Updated: 07:47 EST, 4 July 2014

An in-flight safety video that was accused of 'sexualising the female body' has been dropped by Air New Zealand.

The nearly four-minute footage, which features bikini-clad models, has been taken off the air after an online petition was launched calling it sexist.

However, the airline says the removal of the Sports Illustrated 50th anniversary in-flight safety demonstration had nothing to do with public pressure.

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Petition: The campaign against the Air New Zealand video featuring bikini-clad models was signed by 7,000

Petition: The campaign against the Air New Zealand video featuring bikini-clad models was signed by 7,000

The online petition at change.org was signed by more than 7,000 people, campaigned for the video, shot in the Cook Islands, to be removed.

 

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In the footage, the half-naked women advise passengers of the safety procedures on board the plane, and they can be seen flicking their hair suggestively, as well as being ogled at by Maori men.

It also includes a scene where women are looking at their reflections in a mirror while wearing oxygen masks.

The petitioner said the video, featuring half-naked women carrying out the safety procedures in a suggestive manner, made women uncomfortable, including staff members.

'A safety video is to alert passengers on what to do in an emergency; it should not be an excuse to objectify the sexualised female body,' it read. 

'Sexist': Campaigners said the video made women uncomfortable, including staff members

'Sexist': Campaigners said the video made women uncomfortable, including staff members

A supporter of the campaign wrote: 'And it breaches people's freedom of choice. Because they are obliged to sit in front of it. They can't turn it off, or walk away. 

'They can't shelter their children from it, because their children are also obliged to watch it.'

They added: 'It objectifies women. It reduces women to stereotype of sexual availability, increasing a perception that women are available to be utilized as sexual gratification (visual or otherwise).'

However, an Air New Zealand spokesman denied the airline had bowed to public pressure, saying the videos are scheduled, the Sport Illustrated video had reached the end of its run and was gradually being phased out of the aircrafts it was used on.

Air New Zealand passengers on a flight from Wellington to Auckland are now being shown a previous safety video, featuring Bear Grylls.
 

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