For the first time ever, a major US airline has committed to a major multimedia ad campaign featuring and targeting gay passengers. Amercian Airlines new print ad American Airlines - already a well known presence in the GLBT marketplace - new ad will be featured in gay print media, online, and on LGBT cable TV channel LOGO. The 50s-era style illustrated posters show two men stepping off the plane together, with the tagline "Fly forward". "There's a sameness to travel ads, the same faces and couples in stock photography, we thought we'd like to try something more imaginative," explains American Airlines spokesman Tim Kincaid. He says the illustrations intend to capture a "wanderlust and to show people travelling with someone they care about. It allowed us to invent our own space and time, and subtly remind people that we've [same sex couples] been here a long time." A version featuring two women is due early in 2008, an important addition the airline says. "The market is not all white males," Kincaid explains, "Exclude women from 'LGBT' at your own peril!" Also launching in the US in time for Sydney Mardi Gras 2008 is Air New Zealand's Pink Flight from San Francisco. The Auckland to Sydney flight was well-received last year and will be back again for 2008, with the same Kiwi drag crew also hosting the San Francisco to Sydney flight on 26 February, featuring a Get-Onboard-Girlfriend! bash at the departure gate, and pink cocktails, cabaret-like performances by the flight crew and gay-themed movies during the flight.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Saturday, 12th January 2008 - 2:50pm