Fly the Friendliest Skies

Until today, I had no idea that body painting--that is, painting designs onto the supple canvas of nude models--dated back further than Sports Illustrated’s last decade or so worth of swimsuit issues. But according to Wikipedia,

There has been a revival of body painting in the Western society since the 1960s, in part prompted by the liberalization of social mores regarding nudity. Even today there is a constant debate about the legitimacy of body painting as an art form. The current modern revival could be said to date back to the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago where Max Factor and his model were arrested for causing a public disturbance when he body-painted her with his new make-up formulated for Hollywood films.

Now comes the latest Air New Zealand advertising campaign. As The Huffington Post quips, it “has given new meaning to the overused business cliché ‘transparency.’ The struggling Kiwi airliner has decided to emphasize that, unlike its competitors, it has nothing to hide. Well, literally ...” If only this weren’t fiction.

You can watch the ad for yourself here.