18 January 2010

AirNZ goes hunting cougars

AUCKLAND - Air New Zealand - voted Airline of the Year last week by Air Transport World magazine - is in hot water for an advertising campaign that portrays single middle-aged women as "cougars" who prowl bars looking for sex with young men.

They've upset women's rights groups with a risque online promotion portraying the mating habits of the mature single woman, says The Age newspaper.

In the Discovery Channel-style documentary clip a so-called cougar is shown "starving itself on sparse vegetation during the day then hunting large slabs of meat at night" by stalking a young man at a bar.

Despite the man's attempts to ward off the woman's advances, the cougar has "not tasted fresh meat for days" and drags her prey to an inner-city apartment.

In the ad, the women, aged in their 30s, 40s and 50s, routinely prey on men in their 20s, many of whom "pretend to be gay" to avoid them, says the voiceover.

The promotion encourages women aged 35-plus to send in photographs of themselves out on the town with their "cougar mates" to go in the draw for a deal including a flight and ticket to a sporting event.

An airline spokeswoman said the campaign was supposed to be "light-hearted" but some older women had "taken a bit of offence to it".

However, many didn't, with 60 women signing up to go in to win flights, tickets and cougar costumes to attract the attention of young males.

Footnote: Carnival cruise line recently hosted what was billed as the world's first cougar cruise on the 2,056-passenger Carnival Elation -- a three-night romp that drew international headlines -- but said later it had decided to ban the concept for the future, despite a huge demand for the voyages.

However, Royal Caribbean has stepped in with a new cougar cruise on the 3,114-passenger Mariner, offering a seven-night voyage from Los Angeles to Mexico with stops in Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta.

Like Carnival, Royal Caribbean is hosting the event, not marketing nor organising it.