Relax - Claws out over Air New Zealand's 'cougar' ad

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WELLINGTON - Air New Zealand has drawn the ire of a rape prevention group over a competition aimed at “cougars” – middle-aged women who prefer younger men.

The airline is offering 60 tickets for next month’s Wellington Sevens rugby tournament to older women “who prefer their meat rare”.

The competition invites packs of up to four “cougars” to send in their photographs to the airline to gain a chance of winning the tickets.

An accompanying YouTube video parodying wildlife documentaries says cougars are known for living off sparse vegetation during the day and large slabs of meat at night.

It goes on to show a “herd of young males gathering at a watering hole” or pub while the cougar waits to pounce on any straggler that separates itself from the herd.

“Eventually the young male is dragged off to the cougar’s inner-city apartment where it will cruelly be made to listen to Enya or the Eurythmics.”

The campaign’s manager, Duane Perrott, said Air New Zealand had been overwhelmed by competition entries and positive feedback on “a good bit of light-hearted humour”.

But the Rape Prevention Education organisation said the advert was appalling and degrading to women.

“My question is why is our national carrier promoting sexually predatory behaviour,” director Kim McGregor told Monday’s New Zealand Herald.

“We have also had complaints from male survivors who have been raped by women and they are very distressed that their situation is being laughed at and made out to be humorous.”

Air New Zealand is no stranger to attention-grabbing campaigns. Aiming tos pice up its in-flight safety films, the carrier last year began featuring videos of male and female staff naked except for body-paint uniforms.

An earlier ad featuring staff – including chief executive Rob Fyfe – in body paint said Air New Zealand had “nothing to hide” about its fares, in contrast to what it called the deceptive pricing of low-cost carriers.

Claws out over Air New Zealand's 'cougar' ad

AFP | Tue, Jan 19 2010

Airline competition targeted at middle-aged women who prefer younger men draws ire from a rape prevention group.

Keywords

air new zealand

cougar

adult