Air New Zealand has trolled Emirates after an advert for the Middle Eastern airline flew too close to the New Zealand carrier’s own marketing materials.
Emirates’ new “Fly Better” campaign sees a new waterfowl ambassador, Gerry the Goose, skip his usual lengthy migration to fly in the airline’s new premium economy cabin instead.
Since 2016, Air New Zealand’s own TV adverts have featured a goose character called Dave, whose voice is provided by an established Australian actor, Bryan Brown.
The new Emirates advertisement will air in 25 countries from September.
Rather than getting in a flap about the closeness of the ads, Air New Zealand flagged the similarity to Emirates on Twitter, with a tweet captioned: “Gerry ya Goose, you got the wrong airline!”
In a promotional video posted to Twitter, Air New Zealand showed Dave the goose mentioning Gerry and his mode of transport.
“G’day everyone. You’ll be pleased to know that I’ve finally convinced my old mate Gerry to stop doing his own flying, like me,” says Dave in the video.
“Only problem is, he’s got the wrong airline. What are you doing on Emirates, Gerry?” asks the animated goose.
“It was supposed to be Air New Zealand. The ones with the delicious cuisine, Kiwi hospitality, and those clever advertising campaigns,” it continues cheekily.
“Oh well, better next time, Gerry.”
Air New Zealand and Emirates both operate long-haul routes between Europe and Australasia.
Emirates quickly responded to Air New Zealand’s good-natured teasing, with a tweet that read: “Don’t wing it, Dave! You definitely want to fly with Emirates for the long haul.
“And Dubai is a sweet spot for migratory stops. See you here!”
In July, Dutch airline KLM was sued by campaigning groups for what they say is “greenwashing” in its adverts.
The suit was filed by Fossielvrij NL, environmental law charity ClientEarth and Reclame Fossielvrij in the District Court of Amsterdam on 6 July.
It accuses the Dutch subsidiary of Air France KLM of misleading the public about how sustainable its flights are, thereby breaching European consumer law.
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