Air New Zealand is looking to cash in on the Hobbit craze once again with its new safety video. The “Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made” is being released ahead of the third and final film in the The Hobbit Trilogy, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.
The four-and-a-half minute clip somehow manages to promote the airline, New Zealand as a tourism destination (bungy jumping, anyone?) and the upcoming third installment of The Hobbit trilogy.
Featuring actors from the film, as well as a cameo from Jackson himself, the video was directed by another star Kiwi, Taika Waititi. It was shot in six days.
The airline’s head of global brand development Jodi Williams told The Hollywood Reporter she’s “confident our final Hobbit-inspired on-board safety video will delight fans as much as the first one and inspire even more people to consider a visit to Middle-earth.” In a statement, Jackson called The Most Epic Safety Video Ever Made “yet another fantastic video to celebrate The Hobbit films,” adding that he, “had a lot of fun on the set with Taika and the team and look forward to seeing the video on board”.
The video has instantly gone viral with around 9,500,000 views since being uploaded to YouTube, is a follow up to another LOTR inspired safety video from 2012 titled An Unexpected Briefing.
An Unexpected Briefing has clocked up more than 12 million views so it’s little surprise the airline is giving it another shot.
It’s safe to say that Air New Zealand has established itself as the market leader for creating clever on board safety videos that become viral online hits. Last year’s video, featuring Golden Girl Betty White, has had more than 2 million views.
Air New Zealand have also had one of their in-flight videos fail horribly… all because of one person’s 10,000 signature petition labeling the video “culturally insensitive”.
“Safety in Paradise” shows scantily-clad swimwear models dishing out in-flight safety advice and had over 5.8 million views on YouTube before it was pulled. It ran as the in-flight safety video from February but was removed mid-year.
Officials from the airline insist that the protest, which was launched on change.org back in February by Natasha Young, an Australian woman, was not the reason that the video has been removed. In a statement to Buzzfeed Australia, it said the video was always going to be removed after it had run its course.
The video was filmed on the Cook Islands, featuring Christie Brinkley, Ariel Meredith, Hannah Davis, Jessica Gomes and Chrissy Teigen – all models from Sports Illustrated, an American media franchise known for putting semi-clothed models in provocative positions on the front cover of their magazine. Air New Zealand teamed up with the publication to make the video to mark the magazine’s 50th anniversary.
In her petition Natasha Young called the video “culturally insensitive”, stating that the video made it difficult for people with religious beliefs, parents and female members of staff on board. “This video offends those who value the right to choose,” she said.
We think the video worked it’s socks off but you be the judge. Eyes here…
It’s Halloween this Friday and even though it’s yet to become a true Aussie tradition, we’ve finished off with a few well crafted TVC’s to get you in the ‘trick or treat’ mood. Although not necessarily culturally sensitive, no spiders, zombies or vampires were harmed during filming.
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