That bloody Virgin advert

[SnitterBug]

Is anyone else sick and tired of that bloody Virgin Atlantic advert ? It's not the content that annoys me it's just on all the time !

What's a 'normal person?' Could you describe them?

I always have to mute the bloody adverts as it's soo annoying its on every channel apart from BBC one

@Ladybrrrd - well, it’s not that person pulling a face. I really do not want to sit next to them if they’re going to do that.

It’s not the cabin crew person with all the make-up, either. I want air crew who are professional and getting on with the job - not posing with all that silly glittery eye make-up.

Just went on United Airlines. They had all “old” cabin crew (male and female). Lovely staff, very friendly.

Came here to post this! This was a brilliant ad! The pilot looks like the one from VA who did my Fear of Flying course. It could be as I was told by someone they used to use a lot of their staff in their advertising.

I'm interested in whether an airline has a good safety record, followed by decent prices and routes I want to go on. I'm interested in whether the staff can help keep passengers safe (most importantly) and comfortable.
I don't care how they look or how they feel about their face/make up/sexual identity etc, any more than they do about mine. Very strange advert.

I love the advert. What I don't like are bigots.

I hate tokenism.

Tokenism is the right word here, I think. Whenever I see the advert I can always hear, in my head, so ad executive shoting over the top, getting more and more excited...

"Look! Our flight attendants don't have to wear lipstick. Women can be beautiful and natural"
"Look! A disabled person - we let them on our flights"
"Look! LGBTQ+ people - we're totally down with that. And punks! Anyone gender non-conforming! OMG, we even let old people fly with us - are you seeing this, people?"

However, I had to take a flight with a relative a few months back. Ryanair - not Virgin. There was a male cabin crew member who was a bit camp and my relative would not stop going on about how "it's like we're in that Virgin Atlantic advert". or muttering "Go back to Virgin", whenever the poor bloke appeared. It did make me think that as much as the execution of the virgen advert annoys me; we really do need more ads like this in order to increase visibility and normalise (I hate that word in this context, as a PP said, what does a "normal" person look like anyway) the non-mainstream.

However, there is a crime in the advert which truly makes me hate it and it's nothing to do with the people depicted. I love "I Am What I Am". It's a perfect song for belting in the shower and it's on my power playlist for when I need a confidence boost at work. That climax of pride, passion, anger and joy when the singer (be it Gloria Gaynor, Shirley Bassey etc) belts out I AM what I AM is everything. The version in the advert however gets the intonation all wrong. The song builds and swells and then ends with "I'm WHAT I am". Wrong, wrong, wrong. I say ban the advert on these grounds 😂

Only if you really see yourself in the ad.
There are so many extreme stereotypes in it that real people can feel excluded.
Where are the happily unglittered ordinary ones?

I agree about the wrong emphasis too. 'What' isn't the most important thing about a person. 'Who' is more interesting.

Where are the happily unglittered ordinary ones?
We're in practically all the other ads on telly?!
We don't have to be in everything. 😁
So an advert shows "happily glittered" people, I see that as good as you don't always see them represented in the media so think it might make you feel "seen", represented in a way us"unglittered" people take for granted.

There was a male cabin crew member who was a bit camp and my relative would not stop going on about how "it's like we're in that Virgin Atlantic advert". or muttering "Go back to Virgin", whenever the poor bloke appeared. It did make me think that as much as the execution of the virgen advert annoys me; we really do need more ads like this in order to increase visibility and normalise
Yes, exactly, I think positive representation is good to normalise, another reason I like this advert

Yes -we unglittered ones are in other ads ...and can be on other planes!

This ad just seems forced and predictable - so a bit tiresome.
The people in it all seem to be those insisting on being noticed (exhausting to travel with?) rather than representations of the overlooked and neglected.

I like it, I imagine the sort of people who complain about it are the sort to complain that JL was too woke for using a black family in one of their Christmas ads.

"he people in it all seem to be those insisting on being noticed (exhausting to travel with?) rather than representations of the overlooked and neglected*
I just don't get this mindset.. How do you get to exhausting to travel with from seeing people eyeshadow, from people acting in a "camp" way, or people wearing all black and looking goth /punk?!
You think they do it as they want to be noticed, and therefore come to the conclusion they're exhausting to travel with?!, they do it for THEMSELVES. Not everything's about you. *

Top bit was a quote and supposed to be bold

I was thinking it over and note that I hate most things that push a we're holier-than-you message seen in the ad. (Churches have irritated me in the same way and they probably have more excuse :) )

The focus is wrong.
If choosing an airline I'd much rather hear about how the flight is staffed with those really involved in their jobs rather than themselves.

real people

Again it's really interesting that you say 'real people,' as if men who wear make up, women with shaved heads, people in wheelchairs... aren't real? Could you clarify which people are real?
I'm a card carrying, shaved head, spikey boots, smudged eye-shadow punk type person, and I am a real person. Actually, among my peer group, YOU'D probably be the weird one.

And actually there are plenty of people in the advert who are not 'glittered' - the lady in the black bob, the woman who decides to forgo makeup, the pilot, the punk (there's where I feel seen!), the tripping woman, (and the guy she's staring at!) the little girl, the sleepy guys, the guy who's running late...

I'm wondering if, because there are some 'groups' of people you wouldn't normally interact with, you're noticing them more intensely.

I believe the actors are all people who do actually work for the airline.

It's literally the only advert I really like and make a point of stopping to watch when it comes on! I love the music and the whooshy bit at the end reminds me of that feeling of being whisked away on holiday ❤️

My favourite part of that advert is the end - where the female pilot is the Captain (LH seat) and the co-pilot, (a man?), on the right.

Just thinking it all looks even more crass and irrelevant now when the crashed Japanese plane staff worked so professionally to get everyone off quickly and safely. Strutting up and down the aisle showing how diverse you are looks so silly and inappropriate now.

Showing that people who don't fit your nice 'normal' type are just as good at their jobs is no bad thing.

I am not very fond of ‘normal’ and am not usually accused of it myself.

However preachiness like the ad is just annoying!

Eh? There's four white blokes by my reckoning and four white women. The guy with the blonde hair eyeing the girl on the travelator. The two guys watching the planes/sleeping. The guy in the wheelchair. The posh woman with the piercings. The woman pulling faces at the kid. The old woman. The pilot. Sorry, 5 white women.

Define normal?
The female pilot? The guy on a wheel chair? The gay couple plane spotting? The lawyer with a pierced tongue? These people are not normal to you?