Virgin Atlantic TV ad - 25 years, still red hot
Seeing as it’s Friday I thought I’d share a bit of Friday Fun with everyone with the new advert by Virgin Atlantic celebrating their 25 years of being in business.
I love this ad for loads of reasons. It’s reminded me how amazing Frankie Goes to Hollywood were, and how “Relax” still stands the test of time as being a damn good song. I also love all of the references to 1980’s Britain, such as the miners strike, HUGE mobile phones, Our Price (I used to work there), Wimpy, Big Country’s “Steeltown” album (although I’ve also seen a version of this ad with the guy oustide Our Price holding Scritti Politti’s excellent “Cupid & Psyche” album - not sure why 2 versions exist but there you go), Asteroids arcade game and Grandstand portable kids arcade game that the boy is playing with. Love the attention to detail.
But best of all this ad is brilliant because it celebrates the fact that Virgin always had the most glamourous cabin crew of any airline. Fact. Some people here are getting their knickers in a knot and saying it’s sexist, it’s not it’s just bloody good fun - a shame we don’t see more stuff like this in our overly politically correct times.
When asked about the ad, Paul Dickinson, the sales and marketing director of Virgin Atlantic said: “When our competitors are feeling down in the dumps, and we enter into a year of economic uncertainty, you can always trust Virgin Atlantic to raise spirits and stare into the future with as much optimism as we did back in 1984.”
Hear, hear! Well done Virgin Atlantic.
UPDATE: Retrobick left a comment saying that they supplied the old-fashioned mobiles for the ad. Check the site out, some very cool examples of “classic” mobiles. I’m going to buy one, I don’t really know why or what I’ll do with it but I really, really want one.
What I’m listening to right now: Frankie Goes To Hollywood - “Relax”
Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 1:52 pm and is filed under Fun. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Welcome to my blog. My name is Kieron Donoghue and I am the founder of ShareMyPlaylists.com, ContentNow.co.uk and some other businesses. I thought it would be fun to blog, writing about my experiences in Internet Marketing. I'll include some personal stuff too, probably about my other passions, music and cars. Please feel free to post your comments and thoughts too.
Very clever advert, much respect to Virgin Atlantic.
You’re right. I love this ad.
One of the best ad I have ever seen. Really GOOD.
Being a media researcher myself, I can say this truely has an effect. Virgin has made a statement - It is the brand to beat.
Well done.
I think Cupid & Psyche was in the original version then someone pointed out that it was released in 1985 not 1984.
Tim - good spot, am impressed!
We supplied the 80’s brick phones (two in fact) as props for the advert.
Have a look at http://www.retrobrick.com
nice ad, some lovely women there and the smile on the Captains face says it all, naughty!
How GREAT… and how VERY attention grabbing, typically Virgin. You have to watch it a few times to get all the details.
Have flown “Virgin” many times and they are really really really good… and the cabin crew…. ARE HOT, the women of course!!!
Don’t know what the fuss is about, it’s just a good ad.
When it comes to ads - I regards Brands with substance rather that great ads which comes and goes over a period of time. Virgin has mastered the art, this is apparent in their product and services.
I heartily concur with Kieron’s view of this advert. For me it just get’s better and better with each viewing. I would love to know if it’s being shown in cinema’s as I would love to see it on a vast screen with a horrendously loud sound system. It really does take me back to those naughty days of the eighties…I just wish I hadn’t been so pi**ed for most of them!
Brilliant ad, a classic. Does anyone know who the celeb girl is that is being photographed? She looks a lot like Alannah Currie of the Thompson Twins. Any idea if this was some brilliant photo montaging or just coincidental, anyone???
Simon - interesting point. I just assumed it was a generic 80’s popstar but now you mention it, she does look a bit like Alannah.
Yeah, the 80s, the best decade I never experienced
Very definitve and a gooood advert. Much pazzazz
mark of a good ad: people start playing with it:
I think this is a great advert… its a shame BA cant come up with anything like it use to. Was it me or did they just add their logo to the Visit California advertisement?
Love the advert it sums up Virgin in a nutshell. To see the 747 Jersey Girl on the advert in which we travelled on to Jamaica March 2008 brings back the wonderful memories of Virgin and the experience they gave us on our longhall flight
As with so much unimaginative media today, this ad hides its bigotry under its ‘retro’ theme, safely tucking itself into a time when women workers were unprotected from sexual harassment in the workplace. In so doing; RKCR and Virgin promote a work culture where women are demonised if they do not measure up to sexist stereotypes of femininity and often subject to harassment if they do. The representation of workers as providing sexual gratification for others not only promotes workplace harassment but a culture whereby people are expected not only to be proficient at what they do but are tacitly expected to ‘please’ clients in other ways, (i.e. wearing make up, tight outfits, not objecting to harassment etc). It is a dark day when workers and women’s rights are so degraded, particularly as the early 1980’s was a time when women and workers all over the world were fighting for anti discrimination and sexual harassment laws to be implemented, lest we forget. The steward’s role as a valued professional member of staff and the occupation of service industries that are predominately made up of a female workforce are completely devalued here. This is made explicit within the advertisement when the line of young white airline stewards come face to face with older less glamorised women stewards and the viewer is left to surmise that these women have been included in the add to represent the staff of Virgins competitors. The script writers make this point clear through the dialogue given to a gawping white male onlooker as he states that he ‘need(s) to change (his) ticket’. Are Virgin seriously stating that they can and will guarantee that ‘their’ female stewards do, or will be made to, conform to these representations? Were the Virgin steward staff consulted by RKCR and Virgin as to how they would like to represented within the media? The value and position of everyday working women is dangerously reduced here to providing men with sexual titillation. Of course RKCR and Virgin will claim that this is all in jest and if you don’t get the ‘joke’ you’re a part of the P.C. gone mad brigade. What is truly disrespectful is how painful this advertisement could be for the existing Virgin Atlantic steward workforce who have not only had their occupation so reduced by their superiors but who will now be inevitably sized up by passengers and compared to these deplorable representations. And as if that isn’t enough, RKCR have received advertising contracts from the Home Office for their anti Prostitution, Domestic Violence, Child Protection on the Internet and Anti Rape campaigns as well for Oxfam! Just what the RKCR add for workplace harassment would be like makes the mind boggle.
Ref Comment by merryn smith
What a load of rubbish !! Get real - PC correctness is already a joke, it’s claptrap like this that just makes it worse. Fantastic ad - I think it should get a BAFTA !!
Fab advert! I was doing a site visit of Ascot Racecourse when they were preparing the set there as remember walking past Our Price and saying whatever happened to them? Now I can see why. It was weird at the time, like taking a trip down memory lane walking through the race course!
Merryn - it’s people like you that have turned this country into the shambles it is where you can’t say Christmas at the fear of upsetting minorities (who actually don’t care, its the PC do gooders that do!) anymore and everyone scared to pass an opinion. Get back in your box and stop going round posting the same response on every site! I bet you are fat and ugly filled with jealousy at what gets attention to come out with the claptrap you have.
Merryn,It will be a dark day if people like you ever become a majority. Relax dont do it when you want to go to it. In your case I dont expect you ever do.
Great Add Great Airline
do the stewardesses shown in the ad actually work for Virgin Atlantic ? If they do it is a brilliant ad, if they don’t it is a sham.
This ad is brilliant, gorgeos looking girls (Oh to look like that) classy uniforms, love the shoes, pilot not bad - the relax song again brilliant.
Virgin Airlines a very classy airline, long may it reign.
Comment for Merryn (are you male or female) Get a life? I’m 63 female, and wow! would love to look like these girls. Jealousy is not a good thing Merryn.
Merryn , are you related to Harriet Harperson ?
Would you like to see the Stewardesse dressed in Burkahs,?
People like you must have very empty lives , always finding fault , where there is none ,always stiring up trouble
with your bigoted views.
As far as the Advert is concerned Sex sells , it always has it always will.
Women both have Sex and Enjoy Sex ,Women Not Wimmin ,use Sex to further advancement in there life .
Most Adverts at the Moment show Men in a negative Light ,
i dont seem to be able to find any posts from Merryn complaining about that ,wonder why?
Merryn - I take it that you were opposed to the Nick Kamen Levi’s adverts in the 80s, the “Diet Coke break” adverts and many others in which men are featured in a far more overtly provocative manner than this?
I doubt it as it doesn’t fit in with your rather blinkered view of life.
My friend (Female) told me about her employers (Virgin) new TV advert and how much she loved it, how funny it was and how cool it was to see such a fresh advert on TV.
The only gripe she had was that they’re not allowed to wear high-heels in the job she does (Cabin Crew). Sums up to me that the majority of people enjoy it for exactly what it is, including those it protrays, without reading too much into it and going all PC
Its a real shame that the cellular mobile phone wasn’t in use until 10th January 1985! And the phone you see is not ‘the brick’! The ‘brick’ was the size of a brick (due to its lead acid battery) and had a handset with a curly cord. Other than that I liked the ad!
@Fivish… you beat me to it. In addtion to be an anorak, the phone is a black Motorola 8500 that was only on sale from about 1988 if I remember. There were phones just like that from 1985, but they were the original white 8000s.
@merryn smith… not sure what your point was, or if you even had one, but it’s a great advert and really brought back good memories of the 80’s. If you don’t like it or the product, don’t use them. It does however seem that you’re in the minority.
Your comment is too long; you couldn’t have wrote all that with just one thought in mind.
.
Keep it short stupid KISS
Rebecca
This is quite intelligent advertising. The Virgin company just has the best advertising campaigns for all its brands. I dig it
You don’t happen to work for Virgin by any chance? Neil
Another nice ad, some lovely women there and the smile on the Captains face says it all, naughty! Monica
Merryn you are a sad person.
I am a 71 year young lady. I love this advert, it’s fun, saucy and brings lots of life into this advert. All people that have hangups over it should get a life. We need to have stuff like this to brighten up our tv screens instead of all doom and gloom. Well done Virgin
MERRYN SMITH
YOU’LL BE DELIGHTED TO KNOW, I’VE JUST SKIPPED YOUR BIT… YOU MISERABLE LITTLE SAD MAN.
GREAT AD, CAN’T GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD - NOW THAT’S THE MARK OF A GOOD AD….YOU NEVER FORGET IT!!
MERRYN SMITH…
Sorry but i think your point is out of date… anyway, its just a TV advert, so you dont have to get all super PC over it for god sake…
This is such a Awesome advert… i grew up in the 90’s.. yuck… but WOW this ad is that awesome id say its the best advert of the year already… its so refreshing, so new, so retro and compared with modern adverts, a whole lot better…
now i cant get it out of my head… next time i fly, im going by Virgin …
The first hand portables were the Motorola 8000. They were grey. They cost £2,800. I had the Motorola 6000 car phone. That only cost £1,800. It was only for the very wealthy back then.
PS.I worked at Cellnet from November 1985 until July 2005.
Did they not have an advert the same or very similiar before - when they started?
I had a stroke on 31 Jan.2009 and this ad and your website are doing wonders for my recovery. I am currently in Croatia and when I played this in my Croatian hospital everyone thought it was just the job to help toward recovery. I had one of those “bricks” but never was able to have a girlfriend that looked as fabulous as these girls. More please and thank you.
My God David …
Hope you get well quickly and your alright…
Then you watch watch more Adverts like this
I give credit to the Adervertising Standards Authority, who a few weeks back had a few small complaints complaining that this as was supposedly sexist. They then looked at the add and threw the complaints out becuase thats what a it was like in the 80′S.! Good On Them & Virgin
Seriously tho - this has to be one if not the best TV Advert ever made ?!!!
Loved the ad, want to re-enact it for a mates birthday, who is partially disabled and finds it hard to get around, would cheer her up no end. tried to get hold of virgin but no luck.
Fantastic advert missing it from the telly so decided to look up on net!
Virgin Atlantic are doing a competition to remake this ad! If your version of the ad gets voted the best you get to fly on a re-creation of the inaugural flight, to go the 25th birthday party in Manhattan and get a night’s luxury accomodation.
They’ve not given you long, only about 12 days, so check out http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/en/gb/redhotremake/index.jsp for all the details.
i like the ad because the fellow dressed as a pilot is so sexy..and he as a sexy grin.its a great advert to. from sheila in london
who is the gorgeous captain in the virgin ad
It IS the orginal from the 1980s.
I assumed the pop star was Cyndi Lauper.
Graet ad loveit………………where do the red shoes come from? Want a pair!!
Just a thought; is the current advert a mix of old and new material…..however, the red shoes will be current forever, whatever!
yes, who is that gorgeous captain- he looks really familiar, as does the woman with the sunglasses, and i can’t for the life of me remember where i have seen them before.
I thought I might be alone in thinking this was a brilliant ad ~ think it should get an award, if there is such a thing. But amybe it already has! As for being sexist and stereotyping women ~ complete madness The stewards dressed in grey, with their hair up, just show how other airlines dressed their staff.. I remember they used to wear very classic, low heeled court shoes. The ad has everything ~ great soundtrack, tells a story (with humour), places it in time (didn’t know that the phones were wrong but for most people that would be a small point) ~ perfectly put together. Love it!
Reminds me of a scene in the movie Catch Me If You Can when the main character dresses as a pilot and uses the cover of an attractive looking cabin crew to evade capture from the FBI.
well the ad states June 1984 and the geezer is using a mobile phone if virgin did their home work correctly they would realise that the first ever mobile phone call wasnt actually made until 1985 !!
Who are the girls in the virgin ad please, please tell me ……..
can someone tell me , to stop a heavy debate,. is this is actual video of 25 yrs ago or is it a remake or a mix and match of the old one. this debate is really getting silly, i dont remember the original one with these girls. the format is the same but not the people. please help. linda.
I’m sure this advert was out in the 80’s. Is this just a remake of the original? Isn’t the guy at the ‘games machine ‘ in the more recent advert for Viva!!!!
The advert is absolutely amazing just love the model on the right as you look at all the girls marching thru the airport, any idea what her name is does she have a website?
regards
messing about on the computer & i thought ireally fancy watching that absolutley brilliant Virgin ad again How many ads are that good Sir Richard strikes again