Street Wise: Bare essentials get passengers'attention

For regular travellers, this becomes redundant and boring. Certainly, whenever news hit screens about flying accidents, all are concerned with their own safety when flying, but not all pay attention to the demonstrations.

Scandinavian Airlines must be aware of this. When showing the demonstration, airline employees said, "We know that you have seen this, but for your own safety, please pay attention to the demonstration." The message is that you MUST watch the demonstration.

Air New Zealand, however, is the most innovative in having passengers pay attention to the demonstration. The airline has adopted a cheeky way to encourage passengers to watch its in-flight safety video: The cabin crew's uniforms are nothing but body paint.

According to Associated Press, the "Bare Essentials of Safety," screening in the cabins of planes flying Air New Zealand's main domestic routes has gone viral online. It had 1.2 million YouTube views by Friday, four days after it was launched.

In the video, three cabin staff and a pilot, all in full body paint applied to look like their uniforms, talk viewers through the aircraft's safety procedures.

A demonstration seat belt, life jacket and arm rests are strategically positioned during the 3 1/2-minute video to protect the cabin crew's ... discretion. Passengers are shown ogling, mostly in appreciation.

The body paint idea is also being used in a series of television advertisements in New Zealand for the airline, which include the promise: "At Air New Zealand, our fares have nothing to hide."

"We think in tough times there's a premium for making people smile, and it gives the opportunity to stand out in a crowd," Air New Zealand's marketing general manager Steve Bayliss said.

Each crew member spent about three hours having the body paint applied.

Rather than yawning when watching this kind of video, now passengers may be yearning to board the flight. Anyway, this should be in the initial period. If all airlines adopt a similar strategy, the "nudity" would be a common product and become boring.

Am I right?