Raunchy ads ‘put flight attendants at sexual abuse risk’

MELBOURNE - Lewd and obscene airline ads are putting flight attendants at risk of sexual harassment and abuse, Australia”s peak flight attendant union has warned.

The warning comes after an onslaught of sexually explicit advertising campaigns released by airlines across the world.

Russian start-up airline Avianova recently launched an advertising campaign showing bikini-clad flight attendants washing planes.

Days later, leaked images taken for Russia’s largest airline Aeroflot’s calendar had a flight attendant posing completely nude.

Flight Attendants Association Secretary of Australia Jo-Ann Davidson said that such ads are offensive and place cabin crew at risk.

“This type of provocative advertising using cabin crew in this light is not tolerated in Australia and should not be acceptable anywhere else,” News.com.au quoted Davidson as saying.

“Such suggestive advertising portraying cabin crew as part of the product they’re selling sends wrong messages and puts cabin crew at risk of sexual harassment and abuse, all for a 10 dollar air fare,” Davidson added.

Davidson said that she is seeking the intervention of the Civil Aviation Section of the International Transport Federation into the matter.

“It’s a sad reflection of the attitude of the airline’s executives - dare I say more than likely middle aged males - towards cabin crew, in particular, female cabin crew by portraying them in such a demeaning, distasteful and irrelevant manner,” she said. (ANI)