Wacky Advertising

Is advertising getting out of control in this day and age?

According to an article entitled, “Wacky new airline stunts”, at CNN.com—this seems to be the case.


This last October, Air New Zealand started a new marketing campaign at LAX. In this marketing campaign they had bald headed men with the words “Need a change? Head down to New Zealand.” Temporary inked on the back of their shaved heads as human billboards.

According to the vice president of the company- he says If people are going to travel a long distance they want to have a trip of a life time. They think by doing something extreme to market the flights they will illustrate the dramatic transformation they will have by traveling to New Zealand.

The main purpose of the cranial billboards is to spark interests in the flights. This is because there sales have been at all time low lately-- close to how sales did right after 9/11.

The article also states -Not just this company, but the global airline industry overall is suffering and many are turning to over the top publicity stunts to generate sales.

The article also talked about some other airline companies over the top promotions.

The company JetBlue put 300 domestic round-trip tickets up for auction on ebay.—the bidding started at cents, and those who won got 40% off of what a regular fare would be.

Virgin Atlantic was another company. They decorated the outside of a plane in the TV show Entourage signage, and offered an Entourage first class package that included extras like cashmere blankets, and Godiva Chocolates.

The Irish carrier Ryanair offered the first 100 English high school students who showed up at a bar in Liverpool free airline tickets. To get the tickets they had to show them that they failed their exams in a high level class.—there promotion was “Forget about going to Oxford or Cambridge and take a trip abroad instead”

Advertisers are turning to crazy marketing schemes to get through to the consumer during this current economic crisis.

Will this method be here to stay or will things go back to normal once the economy becomes stable again?