VietJet airlines is a Vietnamese low cost carrier that’s known for their “bikini” flight attendants. No, not all flights have flight attendants in bikinis, though the airline does release an annual bikini calendar of flight attendants.
Furthermore, for special occasions the airline sometimes has scantily clad models do a walk down the aisle inflight. They did this on a recent inaugural flight, for example.
Personally I’m not a fan of the way in which they objectify women, and I would find this to be incredibly uncomfortable (just like the time a dancer in Casablanca was shaking her breasts in my face for what felt like an uncomfortable eternity). However, I do think it’s worth noting that VietJet’s CEO is a woman, and many people disagree with me. If they thought on balance that this had a negative net effect, I’m sure they wouldn’t do it.
This brings us to the latest VietJet story, which frankly leaves me a bit confused. VietJet has apologized for this stunt, said it was an “improvised move,” and that it wasn’t a well thought out marketing strategy. They also said the relevant staff had been disciplined.
So, what happened? VietJet sent some scantily clad models onto a flight that otherwise had the country’s under-23 men’s football team onboard, after they lost. Per The Straits Times:
VietJet – best known for its bikini-clad air hostesses – came under fire for sending models in barely there costumes to join the footballers heading home from China, where the team suffered a 2-1 defeat after extra time by Uzbekistan in the Under-23 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Championship on Saturday (Jan 27).
“VietJet’s move was so rude, cheap, and offensive to the team, the fans and even its passengers,” Facebook user Nguyen My Linh wrote in a post that received 1,700 likes and more than 100 shares by midday on Monday.
Though the airline has grabbed headlines by staffing some of its inaugural flights with air hostesses in nothing more than bikinis, many online users said it was inappropriate to send the lingerie models to accompany the young men.
“It’s disgusting. I will boycott VietJet for this,” Le Nguyen, an office worker, told AFP on Monday.
Here’s a video of the models they sent on the flight:
I’m confused here. Let me say once again that I don’t like the way VietJet uses models, but that is something they consistently do, on inaugural and other special flights, and in their annual calendar.
With that in mind, I don’t really understand where the outrage comes from with this particular incident? It’s one thing if there were always uproar in Vietnam when VietJet pulled these stunts, but there generally isn’t. If they’re going to ever put scantily clad models on a flight, I feel like a flight full of young adult men would be the most appropriate time to do so, rather than inaugural flights with children, no?
The only logic I can come up with is that I imagine these football players are considered superstars in Vietnam, so maybe it’s like when tween celebrities are dating someone, and people automatically hate whoever they’re dating because they feel like they’re taking away “their” person. Perhaps the reaction here was similar.
Can anyone make sense of this — why is VietJet apologizing and reprimanding someone for this, when it’s something they do all the time?
(Tip of the hat to Jack)
I am fed up with people claiming seeing women like this objectifies them. It doesn’t and women and men created different and the woman is to attract the man and the man is made very visual to enjoy women. All is natural but now prudes and liberals think it’s wrong and it is destroying mens ability to be a man. This is of course done by most women. I’m sure if they had the looks...
I am fed up with people claiming seeing women like this objectifies them. It doesn’t and women and men created different and the woman is to attract the man and the man is made very visual to enjoy women. All is natural but now prudes and liberals think it’s wrong and it is destroying mens ability to be a man. This is of course done by most women. I’m sure if they had the looks they would not object but most women just don’t care about being attractive to men hence high divorce rate
@Steve
- there's no procreation in the video, thankfully. I was just quoting @Emirates4Ever, "Straight men are attracted to beautiful women, we enjoy watching them, we even enjoy being intimate with them. It’s not objectifying, it’s how the species procreates."
CP.. Creative manner?? Sorry CP but flogging an airline by cheap exploitation is neither novel or creative.. It is crass and common but obviously hits your sweet spot. Comments regarding sexual preference, racial stereotypes or sexism is not marketing but derogatory and hurtful to other human being who deserve basic respect. My so called PC pontification and righteous attitude is simply calling out those who feel that this is acceptable in this or any venue.
This article certainly got them crawling out from under the rocks. Unreal or perhaps "too real" smattering of homophobic, misogyny and sexist tripe. Is the airline about marketing women or air service. I imagine it's not the ideal work environment for any woman trying to make an honest living. I assume the "good before" expiry date is stamped on their butts the day they are hired. Might make a pass on this airline.
Rick; no one is crawling out from under the rocks except you. Save the blathering, self righteous, PC, pontification for another venue. The airline is selling a product and marketing such in a creative manner. Get over it already!
Ben, as a US national with male orientation ( and nothing wrong with that ) , and although well traveled, I do not think you understand the attitudes of Asian men and Asian culture.
@schar...I get the feeling Ben isn't a rice queen though. He won't even touch Asian food on a plane...
LOL Ben you only didnt like this because it was beautiful girls parading and not guys...you would've loved it if it were dudes.
Us straight guys appreciate beautiful women, as we should, and the dudes in the video seem to be enjoying themselves. Whats the harm?
also the whole "objectifying" bulls*** is sooo SJW crap. give it a rest
Not sure what is so disgusting about this. Looks like the players were enjoying themselves and I disagree totally that it objectified women. The women have a choice to participate. That's the problem with all of this damm PC crap going on in the world now. Everyone gets offended by something or the other. People need to lighten up. For God's sake you can see the same thing on any public beach!
@Kevin, lmao!!
@Steve - You must have seen lots of Viet dongs to know its sizes? They must make you feel inadequate so you have to resort to being a racist?
When will Delta, American, & United begin their All-Girl Reviews ??
I thought it was a GREAT IDEA. All the fat & ugly USA women's libbers would howl !!
Let 'em howl !! Hahaha..... It's about time we had some sexy women in the cabin again....
@Ben,
If you care about sport, you will understand.
Those footballers are under 23 and not even close to super star. Your imagined celebrities dating story makes no sense. It was a big game for the country and the national team lost. People are blaming the airline for distracting the players.
Please read the whole story before making egotistical comments.
It appears that some of the guys who feel compelled to tell us they're horny are also racist as well
Seems to me that the bikini models are either:
1. Stewardesses in which case walking around in the bikini likely interferes with their duties such as getting me a drink and is a possible safety issue. While the idea of a pretty lady in a bikini rescuing me has a certain appeal I think it would improve her chances of rescuing me if she wore full clothes and sensible flat shoes.
2. Not stewardesses in...
Seems to me that the bikini models are either:
1. Stewardesses in which case walking around in the bikini likely interferes with their duties such as getting me a drink and is a possible safety issue. While the idea of a pretty lady in a bikini rescuing me has a certain appeal I think it would improve her chances of rescuing me if she wore full clothes and sensible flat shoes.
2. Not stewardesses in which case they are potentially reducing the number of seats available to real passengers thereby reducing availability and possibly increasing flight cost.
In short, perhaps they should provide seat back video and play "Showgirls" or reruns of Baywatch. Pamela Anderson in the original Baywatch is much prettier than those models.
@ChampagneSocialist, I believe Japan has the highest virginity rate for 20/30 year olds in the world. The men there don't know how to fill a woman up. It's a pity because those pretty Jap girls deserve it.
"Personally I’m not a fan of the way in which they objectify women, and I would find this to be incredibly uncomfortable"
Ben, are you scared of vjj? did you get bitten by it before?
@Robert Hanson What's the evidence that the majority of men in Japan are not objectifying women? My limited experience of Japanese culture is that traditional gender roles and male dominance are much more engrained there than in typical Western cultures (to keep this vaguely on topic, you are much much much more likely to find female FAs on a JAL or ANA flight than say a BA flight). They also a vibrant adult industry (which...
@Robert Hanson What's the evidence that the majority of men in Japan are not objectifying women? My limited experience of Japanese culture is that traditional gender roles and male dominance are much more engrained there than in typical Western cultures (to keep this vaguely on topic, you are much much much more likely to find female FAs on a JAL or ANA flight than say a BA flight). They also a vibrant adult industry (which may be a cause of and/or a consequence of men and women not getting enough sex with romantic partners).
Sexual attraction between men and women, despite the unending SJW blather, is the reason the species exists. When the majority of men no longer "objectify" women, (Ben gets a pass on this) that will be the last generation to be born. Sadly that's already happening in Japan, and the population is plummeting. Soon the 'average' Japanese will be retired, with no one to take care of them.
Also, lets just ignore that straight women...
Sexual attraction between men and women, despite the unending SJW blather, is the reason the species exists. When the majority of men no longer "objectify" women, (Ben gets a pass on this) that will be the last generation to be born. Sadly that's already happening in Japan, and the population is plummeting. Soon the 'average' Japanese will be retired, with no one to take care of them.
Also, lets just ignore that straight women also "objectify" handsome men, even if they are less likely to publicize the fact.
So tired of the constant "outrage" by the SJW idiots.
@Steve - Ben would surely not object in that situation.
Besides Ben’s self-serving and political correctness comment in that regard, as to his question, I can’t figure out the objection by any football player make who likes women. Not all the football players may fit in such category
Something tells me if some Viet dongs (as small as they might be) were bouncing in front of Ben's face, he would have a vastly different take on the situation.
@Jeremy, I missed the part of the video where procreation occurred. Can you point it out to me? I'd like to watch.
To the horny guys who vow to fly VietJet to experience the in flight entertainment - good luck with that, as there'll be every chance you'll be stuck at the gate for hours at a domestic terminal with wifi that's too slow for good porn. VietJet have a legendary track record for lack of punctuality, and worse routinely cancelling flights at very short notice, to the extent that they are known affectionately to locals as VietS**t.
@Emirates4Ever
I think we're all aware of why straight men are attracted to young women in bikinis. But I'd rather if they didn't "procreate" in the seat next to me, thank you very much.
What’s the difference between that and cheerleaders (except they stupidly did it after the match rather than before)?
LOL leave it to the feminists and de-masculated men here to be party pooper crybabies. Look, you're openly gay, Ben, of course you find beautiful women disgusting and unclean.
Straight men are attracted to beautiful women, we enjoy watching them, we even enjoy being intimate with them. It's not objectifying, it's how the species procreates.
Perhaps you should move to a strict Muslim country where, like you, find women unclean and keep them hidden lol.
If Americans objectified women more they would be a more relaxed, happy nation.
I expected to see these models riding some Viet dongs. And to my surprise, they weren't. Why the outrage?
Wow, I was super right. Miguel, Hal, Jason, Tonco, Richard, and Jason Wong are all super horny about the post and felt irresistibly compelled to tell us all about it. What a depressing personality defect.
@Ray -- Well said.
I will definitely be flying Viet airlines from now on. Thank you for making this known.
LOL, that music. It sounds like strip club.
Jesus Christ, that was so cringy and skeevy as f*ck. It’s a god damn airline, not a strip club. The hypersexualization of their flight attendants like this would be absolutely creepy and uncomfortable to experience, and I’m a straight male. There’s no way in hell I’d fly on an airline like this, in the US or otherwise, if I never know when it’s going to turn into a strip club. Stupid publicity stunt by an...
Jesus Christ, that was so cringy and skeevy as f*ck. It’s a god damn airline, not a strip club. The hypersexualization of their flight attendants like this would be absolutely creepy and uncomfortable to experience, and I’m a straight male. There’s no way in hell I’d fly on an airline like this, in the US or otherwise, if I never know when it’s going to turn into a strip club. Stupid publicity stunt by an airline CEO that isn’t afraid to sell out her gender, and the sooner this absurd practice of treating flight attendants as “models” ends the better. I’d take the senior crew on a major US airline any day over any airline that sexualizes their employees like this.
Hello, i’m from Vietnam. And the only reason why Vietnamese people are getting angry because Vietjet using the bikini show were not in the right time. These football players are like national superstars right now in Vietnam, and they are too young for these things (at least to Vietnamese people, the youngest is born in 1999, and the elders are born in 1995). And after that, Vietjet made an apology on facebook, saying that the...
Hello, i’m from Vietnam. And the only reason why Vietnamese people are getting angry because Vietjet using the bikini show were not in the right time. These football players are like national superstars right now in Vietnam, and they are too young for these things (at least to Vietnamese people, the youngest is born in 1999, and the elders are born in 1995). And after that, Vietjet made an apology on facebook, saying that the bikini show was like a spontaneity of the crew, the CEO and other people did not know about that. And that made people in Vietnam agrier. Therefore, an apology is a must right now for Vietjet.
They are apologising because they pushed the envelope on "decency" , in a limp marketing thrust, and got called out on it. This kind of thing happens all the time in Thailand, not on planes but in just about every product launch: the 'pretties' are employed to cavort and thrust over new cars and electronics ( then someone complains and a few are carted off to jail). Next week it happens again.
Storm in a C-cup.
I would have no problem being stuck in the middle seat between any two of those models in economy for 24 hours. I wold be praying for a delay in takeoff and land. I would also ask the pilot to find some turbulence.
Would you be "more comfortable" if they were scantly clad good looking men? Based on your postings in the past, it's very obvious where your allegiance lay. Not that there is anything wrong with that
Parading in front of football players in almost nothing is what I used to pray for as a young Queen.
@Jason :
just tell your wife you wanna check out the scantily clad model in person ....
..... and visit her Ha Long Bay
where can I get their calendar? :)
Vietjet has just moved to the top of my aspirational flights' list, knocking off AF La Premier. Now I just have to find a plausible excuse to tell my wife why I need to go to Vietnam. I got it: Vietnam War history tour - I'm sure my wife would not be interested in going on a tour to learn about jungle warfare during the Vietnam War :)
I think it's a publicity stunt by VietJet. Vietnam is a conservative society when it comes to public display of sexuality. Backlash by the consumers may be more damaging than it worth.
They were fined $1,700 USD for the incident according to the article below:
https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/vietnam-s-bikini-airline-fined-after-u23-team-treated-to-sexy-in-flight-show-3706024.html
I'm sure the team didn't complain. Only the ugly/fat women on board.
You'd think a female CEO would occasionally reverse the deck and have sexy guys parading around in Speedos or thongs. That would get my attention!!!
Benyamin,
WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU BOY? Don’t you go ruining the best idea That has come along since Frank Lorenzo’s Texas air stewardesses in Hot Shorts and knee high boots. Why do you hate fun Benyamin, oy vey! Live a little you crazy little schmuck!
I can't make sense of the distinction either, but I'm sure several commenters will arrive shortly to inform us all that the bikini-clad Vietnamese flight attendants make them horny.
maybe it's because they lost the match, which was seen as a big deal in Vietnam. It was the first time any vietnamese NT (of any age) reached a continental final, and there was massive interest in the country. perhaps they feel it's disrespectful because of the outcome.