VietJet Air has come under criticism for allegedly using sex to sell flight seats. This has happened in a similar campaign.
VietJet Air's promotional calendar for the year 2018, will get your attention not only for the huge discount, air hostesses dressed in sexy bikinis will motivate you even more.
This might seem great to randy air travelers who don't mind any form of distraction, but the South China Morning Post (SCMP) has criticized the airline for "using sex to sell seats". The marketing campaign of the Vietnamese carrier revealed women described as workers at the company dressed in an explicit manner.
SCMP in its report has linked this to a case of sexual harassment currently escaping the attention of the authorities, but a spokesperson for the airline rejected this position terming the company's initiative as a part of customer service.
“The hot and sexy models have always been the favourite of many VietJet passengers,"
“Not only displaying their gorgeous looks, the models posed in different cabin crew and staff roles to showcase the airline’s high-quality service and friendly staff,” the rep observed.
ALSO READ: 'Ghana Must Go' bags no longer allowed at airports
The South China Morning Post countered this claim made by VietJet Air in an article published by the news agency on Tuesday, December 26, 2017. It described the women as models with diverse nationality as opposed to being Vietnamese.
"Of course, the women in the calendar don’t work on any of the airline’s 49 aircraft. In fact, most of them are not even Vietnamese.
"On board this risqué branding exercise are 20-year-old American model Celine Farach, the Thai runner-up of Miss Tiffany’s Universe 2017 Kwanlada Rungrojampa, and Vietnamese runner-up in Asia’s Next Top Model 2017 Nguyen Minh Tu," a quote in the report reads.
With 23 domestic and 10 international destinations within its Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City travel route, this type of agenda is not a rare thing for VietJet Air which was accused on repeating a similar tactic and describing its new marketing campaign as a “hot item for all aviation fans and travellers”.
ALSO READ: Airline sacks hostess over video with racist comments on Nigerian passengers
In August 2012, the controversial airline was fined a sum of 20 million đồng for allowing five models to perform a sexy Hawaiian-themed dance on a flight to Nha Trang, the SCMP reports.
The concern has basically been that the intense marketing strategy has no space and perhaps goes against the characteristics of a conservative country like Indonesia. The nation's ambassador to Vietnam had quickly made a public statement mentioning that VietJet’s flight attendants would not be dressed in bikinis following an announcement in August concerning the airline's intention to expand its navigation to Jakarta.