Our daily feature celebrates memorable scenes, moments, launches and campaigns from the global aviation and travel retail sphere.
I snapped this picture at London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 the other night while about to take the transit train to my C gates departure point.
It’s a powerful image that conveys to me both the drama and the drudgery of travel. One man is donning his coat while walking, his companion has not one but two rucksacks ready for the long journey. In front of them a young boy holds his mother’s hand, excited no doubt about the prospect of the flight ahead. There’s a collective sense of purpose, of mission, among all those in shot as they set off for various distant points of the globe.
But it’s what’s above the travellers that really garnered my attention. This static visual from Emirates airline shows you don’t have to use digital to dazzle, traditional platforms can work too. It’s an emphatic, alluring visual with a strong copy line (aside from one grizzle, more of that in a moment). Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the two main characters featured in it are looking up – perhaps the advertiser is trying to achieve the same effect with the many thousands of travellers who walk underneath the sign each day, many of them apparently superglued to their mobile phones.
My grizzle? The use of the term ‘Far East’ (banned for years in The Moodie Davitt Report Style Guide). One of my earliest memories in this business was hearing former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke address a TFWA conference in Asia. Revealing that he now saw his country’s future as tied to Asia, he derided the use of the term Far East, snarling, “If you live in Asia, you’re not bloody far from anywhere!”
In my view the term is antiquated as opposed to offensive. And, depending on the advertiser’s intentions, probably geographically suspect. Collins English Dictionary says that the Far East used to refer to all the countries of Eastern Asia, including China, Japan, North and South Korea and Indochina. On Quora.com, cognitive linguist Andy Tang says that the term implies “a very eurocentric mentality”. He notes, “The truth is that most of Asia is actually west of continental North America, which means that the term is geographically inaccurate.”
Japanese teacher Christopher Hill writes for the Japanese Society: “There are several reasons scholars now avoid using phrases like… ‘the Far East’ and ‘the Orient’, including the exoticism they convey, their association with modern empires, the skewed view of world geography they present, and their tendency to homogenise large, diverse parts of the world as if they shared a single cultural identity.”
So there you have it. Love the ad, love the intention, love the impact. But tweak the copyline please Emirates. You are too contemporary an airline for this.
Footnote: Do you have photos or video you would like to share via one of The Moodie Davitt Report’s most popular features? Simply send them to Martin@MoodieDavittReport.com
Footnote 2: The Moodie Davitt Report will soon launch a new monthly eZine, Sight Lines – The Amazing World of Airport Advertising, in which we will profile advertising and communication initiatives across world airports. Each issue will build to a very special culmination later in the year. For details contact Irene Revilla at Irene@MoodieDavittReport.com.
