Ryanair calls business class service “beds and blow jobs”
Ryanair is courting publicity again, after announcing at a German press conference that the name for its business class service will be “beds and blow jobs” and the blow jobs will be “free”.
According to the London Paper:
Michael O’Leary, the colourful head of Ryanair, told a stunned audience that while passengers in economy would pay as little as 10 euros to fly across the Atlantic, business customers would pay between 4,000 and 5,000 euros and get free oral sex.
This has partly become a news story, it seems, because Ryanair posted the footage on YouTube - I really hesitated before writing about this, because after all, the airline is just after some cheap publicity, and going on about how offensive they are just ramps that up for them.
True, true, but I just feel that this still needs mentioning - what about the women air stewards who end up working on this service? What working environment will this create for them? (Of course, they won’t actually be prostituted by their employer, we assume, that being illegal).
Posted by Jess McCabe on 27 June 2008, at 5:50 PM | Comments (12)
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Sarah said:
I know this whole thing is stupid and vile and hardly worth the trouble of criticising, but the thing that jumped out at me was that he didn't say 'oral sex', he said 'blow jobs', and maybe that was just for the alliteration, but - does he assume all business class passengers are men?
Posted on 27 June 2008 at 7:13 PM
zohra said:
Get. Out.
Posted on 27 June 2008 at 7:34 PM
Charlotte said:
Ryanair, once again, doing Ireland proud
Posted on 27 June 2008 at 7:39 PM
Mary Tracy9 said:
What I want to know is how come this bollocks publicity doesn't get banned on the grounds that it is, well, bollocks!
If 200 customers can get a tv ad banned, how many feminists would it take to stop this sexist bollocks?
Posted on 27 June 2008 at 9:59 PM
Jess McCabe said:
But that's just it, isn't it - if it's a press conference, posted on YouTube, it's not really like an ad, where you can go to the ASA and ask for a ban.
Posted on June 27, 2008 10:30 PM
Torygirl said:
Well dammit, I want my blow job!
Posted on 28 June 2008 at 9:06 PM
a.j. said:
... although a "blow job" can work for both genders. Imagine women travellers getting rowdy in "first class" on Ryan Air and demanding their free service.
perhaps Michael O’Leary doesn't mean for his staff to come through on his offer... perhaps he intends to personally fulfil all passenger demands.
Posted on 28 June 2008 at 10:21 PM
Sarah said:
I've never heard the expression used to refer to oral sex for a woman, have you?
Posted on 28 June 2008 at 10:40 PM
Cara said:
Never heard blow job used to refer to oral sex on a woman either...
Posted on 29 June 2008 at 5:55 PM
Sabre said:
Most definitions you find of 'blow job' describe it as slang for fellatio. So it does not really apply to oral on women although some people have adopted that use of the term.
What a stupid idea anyway! It's basically an airborne brothel! I can hear the jokes already: "Sex Plane gives new meaning to Mile-High Club" *chortle chortle*! Kind of made me laugh actually, I can't see it ever happening.
Posted on 30 June 2008 at 11:19 AM
Cara said:
Oh yeah and I won't fly Ryanair anyway...they are creeps who treat their staff like crap, in addition to the trend in charmingly sexist ads.
Posted on 30 June 2008 at 8:00 PM
Kathy said:
After Ryanair's last couple of brushes with the Advertising Standards Authority it became clear to me that their publicity department is run by Kevin the Teenager (they actually called the ASA "pathetic" last time!) This is why I won't take their flights - somehow I feel a bit worried about a company displaying this level of maturity being in control of a plane, particularly one with me on it.
Posted on 30 June 2008 at 8:28 PM