In an attempt to lighten the mood of stuffy “anti-fun” Swedish politicians, Ireland-based budget carrier Ryanair has responded to outrage over an allegedly sexist advertising campaign by sending copies of its sexy 2009 cabin crew calendar to certain Swedish politicians. The money raised from the calendar sales will go to charity.
Undoubtedly the first person to receive their 2009 Ryanair calendar in the mail will be Liberal Party politician Birgitta Ohlsson, a self-described feminist who launched a campaign last month urging Swedish travellers to boycott Ryanair over an advert that featured an attractive woman wearing a dainty school uniform.
Stephen McNamara, Ryanair’s spokesman, told The Local newspaper “we’re expecting [Ohlsson’s] usual ‘anti-fun’ response. I’m sure Birgitta will hate it. She probably has pictures of pussy cats and dogs running through fields up on her walls. However, it would be pretty difficult to shift that sort of calendar on our flights.”
The calendar in question is called ‘The Girls of Ryanair’ and features 12 well-oiled female cabin crew members wearing much less than you’ll find if you actually take a Ryanair flight. “I can’t see what the problem is,” McNamara continued. “There are a huge number of similar calendars on the market and it’s raising money for charity. I don’t think it’s any different to a calendar showing firemen or rugby players.”
Sweden’s advertising industry regulator, ERK, which focuses on the regulation of sexist adverts, will also be receiving several copies of the Ryanair calendar. When asked about the possibility of a male version of the calendar, McNamara simply replied, “Our male staff aren’t good looking enough and it wouldn’t really appeal to our target audience.”
where and how can l buy one of the ryan’air girls calenders from!Desperate!my mate is a swede,could be a turnip too!haha,my study needs some great views instead of a volvo!!!
The attempt to “justify” the calendar above is just pathetic. The two points are this:
1) It raised money for a good cause.
So is it ok to sell child pornography if it’s for charity? I’m doing a sponsored heroin shoot-up – would you like to sponsor me? Making money for a good cause does not justify otherwise unacceptable behaviour.
2) The women who did it will have had their self-esteem boosted.
If that is true then we must also accept that the 687 rejected finalists have had their self-esteem eroded. They can’t feel good about being rejected. And then there is the effect on the rest of the women in our society. A society where women are treated standardly as sex objects and second class citizens. Every woman knows what it is like to be mistreated as a result of her gender – from cat-calls and snide remarks in the street to discrimination in the workplace and gender stereotyping to domestic violence and rape. Anything which serves to justify this behaviour does nothing for the self-esteem of women.
And finally why does it require more justification than The Sun? It doesn’t. I’m sure the Swedish authorities would also advise people to avoid The Sun newspaper. I agree with them.
I don’t see anything wrong with that calendar. Pirelli si doing this for decades, and nobody complained. But unnecessarily provoking politicians is dumb, dumb, dumb. They have the longer lever, and they’ll find a way to hurt the company. Ryanair’s management must be arrogant idiots.
O’Leary, is a little snot and McNamara is simply an O’Leary mini-me. Controversy is cheap publicity, and O’Leary would sink to anything to suite his purpose. Worthy of ignoring – there is important news on this website.
‘when so-called “fun” is only enjoyed by some but upset others, it is no longer something positive.- Uptight, anal retentive, politically correct crap!Always someone will be offended. boo hoo–
I’m getting the impression that it is being presented here that Ryanair done something wrong that needs to be justified.
I don’t believe this needs justifying, but I’ll justify it anyway. Firstly the calendar is a fundraiser. It raised 70k last year for Angels Quest, and on track to raise 100k this year for the Simon Community. I’m sure they see it as something positive.
Secondly it afforded the 13 successful finalists ( one month has two women in it ) an invaluable experience and boost to their personal self-esteem. It’s not as if they were forced to do this – they had to beat 687 other women to get to the shoot.
What I would like to know is why a charity fundraiser needs any more justifiication than The Sun, especially when you consider that the Ryanair crew weren’t topless.
“I can’t see what the problem is,” McNamara continued. “There are a huge number of similar calendars on the market..”
That Stephen McNamara is not giving any argument at all. It sounds just like people saying “Why not?”, which doesn’t justify his action.
And “Our male staff aren’t good looking enough”. What does it mean? Or does it really have a meaning? Your male staff aren’t good looking because your company hired “ugly” men(on his standard intentionally and hire beautiful ones for those females(at least you got 10 to choose from). So why did you just hire women that are pretty but not male ones that are good-looking too? Are you hiring females based on their looks but not when hiring males? And why did the company do that?
they can surely make a corresponding calender for male.
when so-called “fun” is only enjoyed by some but upset others, it is no longer something positive.
And as a male, Stephen McNamara cannot experience what a woman experiences. So he is hardly in a position to make statement as which means “there is no problem in making naked women calenders” while taking advantages out of females at the same time, asking his female colleagues to be seen on an erotic calender and gain profit from that.