Airline safety video gives truly bare essentials

Air New Zealand is getting down to the bare essentials with a new in-flight safety video that features flight attendants wearing just body paint.

It's aimed at making passengers pay attention to the often-overlooked airline safety videos shown at the start of each flight.

"We wanted to find a way to deliver these important pre-flight messages to our domestic travelers in a way that was genuine, engaging and fun," said Air New Zealand marketing manager Steve Bayliss.

The safety video was launched Monday on Air New Zealand's Boeing 737 domestic flights (and could expand to other routes). It follows the airline's "Nothing to Hide" ad campaign, which featured pilots, cabin crew and even airline CEO Roy Fyfe wearing just body paint in TV ads this spring to promote the airline's no-hidden-fees domestic fares.

In the safety video, shown to passengers aboard the plane before takeoff, male and female flight attendants and a first officer cheerfully give the safety instructions — where to stow baggage, turn off cellphones, how to use seat belts and life jackets — clad in body paint that mimics their airline uniforms.

Unlike Seattle's body-painted naked bicyclists, who flamboyantly bare all in the city's annual Fremont Solstice Parade, the airline staff are strategically photographed so what's revealed is family-friendly. Careful camera angles keep breasts and genitals hidden behind seat backs, life jackets or strategically-crossed legs.

But the artful paint jobs, and the possibility of seeing more of the cheerful, fit flight attendants, likely will keep passengers watching this safety video.

See the video, a humorous bloopers version and the TV ads at www.nothingtohide.co.nz.