Airline industry take offense on Genelia D'Souza

The internet is abuzz with how a section of the people in the airline industry have not taken too kindly to a television advertisement where actress Genelia D’ Souza is trying to woo an airplane pilot. The websites are already abuzz with how some air-hostesses feel that the bubbly actor shouldn’t have done this advert as it portrays air-hostesses in bad light.

“I am outraged at this advertisement. What does Genelia want to prove here — that she can act all sexy and woo a pilot? Isn’t this in a way degrading the airhostesses? These kind of advertisements should have been made with more responsibility,” says an airhostess who gave her opinion to a website.

A reputed website quoted adman Prahlad Kakkar who also opined that these kind of ads should not be aired in a country like India. “Frankly, a majority of our society is not ready for such ads,” a site quotes him as saying.

The creators of the ads also defended their advertisement and Genelia’s act in it saying that it should not be taken too seriously. “It is a light, flirtatious interlude. It doesn’t put down anyone from the aviation sector or any other profession,” another website quoted Simeran Bhasin, marketing head of the company that endorsed the ad, as saying.
“The ad is not meant to be taken seriously. We are not saying these things really happen,” the same website quoted Arun Iyer, national creative director of the agency that made the ad, as saying.

However, it seems that even pilots are lashing out at the ad. “It’s not funny to show that we don’t take our jobs seriously. That too, a job with so many lives at risk,” a 27-year-old pilot was quoted as saying.