The new face of Air India (UPDATE)

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There’s something awkward about Air India trying to be hip, sort of like the uncle with the hennaed hair who knows all of the hottest club dance moves. The last time I flew Air India, I was on a 30 year old used Korean plane with an Italian flight crew and Indian flight attendants. Homey, yes. Fashionable and cutting-edge? Hardly.

So when I saw the images from Air India’s award-winning new campaign, I was a bit taken aback. I was used to the fusty maharaja, retro in a very unhip way, a character that was probably dated from its very inception. What was I to make of this mixed race family, desi female sitting openly in her white husband’s lap? (There’s another shot with a desi man, a white woman and a hadesi child)

The Maharaja was from an era of arranged marriages, when nobody spoke of dating, let alone across the colour line. I’ll bet he never looked once at a non-desi air hostess, no matter how flirtatious.

The new Air India, on the other hand, simply says “look, we’re just happy that you’re married and that you’ve given us a gorgeous grandkid! Now please visit more often.” (Yes, the campaign was created in India) It’s not really stylish, but it is most definitely contemporary. Maybe AI isn’t so dated after all. Now if only they could do something about their service, I’d really sit up and take notice.

UPDATE A few comments (thanks El Nino and Rishi ) have argued that these ads were designed just to win awards and haven’t (and wont) actually be used. People also pointed out that the idea is a straight lift from an earlier (proposed?) Air France campaign.

130 thoughts on “The new face of Air India (UPDATE)”

  1. Well as you said, the picture isn’t stylish. It lacks pizzazz but I DO appreciate seeing a truly dark-skinned Indian woman in an ad. (Yeah I said it!)

    Is the service on Air India bad? If so in what way?

  2. My god those kids are super cute.

    I wonder if they’re real couples, or maybe they had did some spouse swapping when the models showed up 🙂

    Since they’re catering to an international and continent hopping crowd, will they be adding other couples of mixed nationalities for each country they fly to ? Maybe a Chinese and Indian couple, or an African / African American spouse ?

    Interesting that they went with the mixed couples (which is commendable) as opposed to just showing modern, young Indians – maybe they have in other ads ? Hey – maybe with the latest court ruling they’ll have some same sex couples – for the San Francisco flights 🙂

  3. clearly, they’re trying to make up for that one time when i was a kid and they seating all whe white people first after giving them hotel rooms for the overnight while we indians stayed in the airport.

  4. i honestly dont think the service on air – india is bad, assuming we are strictly talkin about the service on board and not the innumerable delays etc.

    To begin with which other airline is going to put up with the tantrums of indians being obnoxiously rude, mean etc (i’m going primarily for the aunty, uncle crowd here)….. but everyone tends to do this…..

    This same segment would never be patronized or entertained, nor would they honestly say a word if they were for instance on an all white air line. Anyone seen an aunty or uncle complain about their food being vegetarian when they asked for the jain variety on any other airline… Thats just a slight exagerration but you get the point…..

    I believe the classic indian mentality of, I paid for this ticket all you people are now my servants(naukars) and I will treat you soo, doesnt manifest itself truely unless such kind of people are in air india…..

  5. Why is everyone being such a social conservative and assuming the couples are married??

  7. To begin with which other airline is going to put up with the tantrums of indians being obnoxiously rude,

    El AL

  8. 7 · Manju To begin with which other airline is going to put up with the tantrums of indians being obnoxiously rude, El AL

    Perhaps a little insider-ish, but brilliant nonetheless! On a similar (but far, far lesser in brilliance!) point, I’m betting that AI’s displaced Maharaja mascot is now flying to and from Desh on Emirates, and, making up for lost time, is in fact ogling their (non-desi) stewardesses. 😉

  9. Actually, the other ad has an Emirati woman with an Indian husband – she’s just very light-skinned, as a lot of Emiratis are. The campaign is for Bangalore-Dubai and Mumbai-New York. Hence, an Indian and Emirati in the Bangalore-Dubai ad, and an Indian and a white American in the Mumbai-New York ad.

    And yeah, if AI wasn’t so god awful in terms of service, I would consider flying them again. Spending 10 hours on a plane that hadn’t been cleaned or serviced at all from San Francisco to the layover in Frankfurt was AWFUL and I’ll never do it again. Ugh.

  10. Now if only they could do something about their service, I’d really sit up and take notice.

    The service would improve the day Air India is privatised or removed from the control of politicians (corporatized?) who think of it as their free government provided travel service. Compare the service on Jet Airways for instance.

  12. I should say, I hate Air India for international travel, but for travel within India, I’ve found it pleasant enough, even if many of the planes are very, very old. The newer ones flying out of Delhi are pretty nice, though. And the flight attendants in-country are unfailingly helpful.

    But yeah. No more AI for international travel. Oy.

  13. What was I to make of this mixed race family, desi female sitting openly in her white husband’s lap? Now if only they could do something about their service, I’d really sit up and take notice.

    Ennis, do you not understand?They are all sitting in the same seat. Now, wouldn’t you get on an AI flight for that opportunity, especially with all that cramped legroom of an airline seat.

  14. Ad campaign is definitely interesting, but not particularly visually appealing…

    The last time I was on an AI was when I got bumped from my Malaysian flight. The AI plane was old – the armrests were broken (one with a jagged edge; I was just told to put a pillow over it), and the wallpaper had mysterious stains (that paisley pattern is very forgiving). I had looked forward to my personal entertainment system on Malaysian, but no such luck on the aging AI plane, where all the passengers got to watch an inane Hindi movie followed by an inane Tamil movie. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the flight attendants are bad (although I’ve definitely seen much better), but they’re generally indifferent to the passengers (especially the Indian ones). The only good thing? Their fantastic cuisine, if you get the Indian food. It’s a great way to get pumped up for a visit to the desh, and a perfect way to say goodbye when you leave.

  15. Represent! But you’re still not convincing us to switch over from Continental direct-to-Delhi. Take a few tips from Singapore Airlines and then we’ll talk.

  16. I’ll be convinced that they’re being indiscriminate when they pair a fair skinned Indian and a dark-skinned non-Indian. Mixed-race Indian couples tend to be more acceptable when the non-Indian is fairer. Apparently, fairness is equivalent to beauty and beauty is not in the eyes of the beholder, to the vast majority of Indians. Go figure.

    If you really want to challenge the stereotype, target those of us who are racists and feudalists in the closet. You can do that by targeting the notion of unequal marriages, i.e., that marriages are not between minds and personalities, but between skin-deep standards of beauty and status.

  17. I’ll bet he[Maharaja, desi uncle] never looked once at a non-desi air hostess, no matter how flirtatious.

    Ennis, the desi uncle has ALWAYS looked at non-desi(white) air hostesses and other women. It is a rite of passage almost to flirt, befriend, sleep and if he can manage marry a white woman. Every single desi man, to this day and across religion, caste, and every socio-economic marker i can think of, wants to sleep with a white woman. Oh and sardars, in and out of India, are especially flirtatious. An airplane is the perfect opportunity. Surely you have met one such turbaned maharaja. I mean, I have yet to come across an exception (well not counting gay men, hijadas, and some abcds who were teased in school and now go around calling themselves “brown”).

    As an aside, I see all this whining on sepia and other places about how desi women go for white men. Indian women, at least (can’t talk about Pak/Bangla and others) are 50-80 years behind Indian men in this regard. Indian women have only very recently started going places on their own.

  18. 4 “This same segment would never be patronized or entertained, nor would they honestly say a word if they were for instance on an all white air line.”

    All white airline?!?! Which on is that?

  19. Sometime in the early 90’s, my family and I boarded an AI flight from Heathrow. The plane was obviously a rental, sporting a Caribbean Airlines logo and an equally exotic crew. No sooner had we reached cruising altitude, the captain announced some malfunction that necessitated returning to Heathrow. It was already past midnight and except for this near-emergency landing, the runways had shut down for the night. I think there is some noise ordinance there that gives the locals’ need for a good night’s sleep way too much priority. AI had no choice but to find hotel rooms for an angry mob.

    We were bused to a rather elegant hotel called St. James Court or something, then an Oberoi owned property just blocks from Buckingham Place. It must have been the sleepy baby in my wife’s arms that drew the desk clerk’s pity, because as we opened the door to what I thought would be a standard double room, we entered a lavishly furnished 3-bedroom apartment – a mere two-minute walk from where the British royalty lived. I just had to see the daily rate posted on the back of the door. It was over 600 pounds a night. Thank you, Air India!

    The next morning, as my family slept, I took my little AI breakfast coupon – yes, 600 pounds notwithstanding, there were meal coupons involved – and went down to the special buffet set up just for the stranded AI passengers. I had a cup of coffee and went back up, thinking I would hold off on breakfast until everybody was ready. When I went back to the buffet with my family, the AI gal on duty guarding the special buffet recognized me right away. Her words to me were, “Excuse me, didn’t you eat already?” Before I could explain that I wasn’t there to rob AI of an extra toast or something, she quickly said that I could use my baby’s coupon to eat (read “freeload”) again since the baby was too little to eat the buffet food anyway. Thank you, AI, and thanks also to my now 16-year old daughter for being, quite literally, my meal ticket that morning in London.

    With all their little peculiarities, I would still rank AI as somewhere in the middle. It is certainly not as refined as the other Asian airlines or India’s own Jet Airways, but at least its crew is far more polite than what you will find on American Airlines or Continental flights to India. And, of course, AI is the airline that brought me to the US in 1973, making it as special to me as one’s first love or first kiss, not that I have any recollection of the latter two.

  20. Just out of curiosity, when was the last time you guys who flew on AI flew on AI?

    I took AI about 2 years ago… on a direct flight to Delhi and it was GREAT. (Say what?). That’s right. Great. Why? Well it was SOOO empty I got to stretch out. I also scored an exit row seat where I could stretch my legs out (Huzzah! I have long legs and usually I spend the flight trying to keep my knees, which are smashed up on the seat in front of me, from falling asleep.) Half of coach was empty. Everything was clean, the service was good, the food was not terrible (a feat for any airline) and they also gave us nifty little things little slipper-socks and those little things. They also had those little consoles where you can pick whatever movies and shows you want to watch.

  22. Ennis, can you post a picture of the iconic Air India bag? It used to come free with the flight in the olden days. Like a pucca fob, I arrived in the US in 1973 proudly sporting an AI bag with the cute-like-Ganesh Maharaja logo emblazoned on the side. It sat in my closet for the longest time. Back in India, you see the bag in use even to this day. Things don’t get tossed in the garbage that fast in India.

  23. LinZi — three years ago. That was the used (old) Korean plane with the Italian pilots and the desi attendants. No personal entertainment system, although that was not the worst thing. Food was good and the attendants were OK (if you want to see real indifference, try flying Lufthansa), but their entire crew on the ground are the worst I’ve ever seen, and they’re even worse in India than they are at JFK. They were cheap at least.

    Is it just me, or does the guy in the other photo look a bit like Chris Rock? I’m surprised that they actually went with two fairly dark desis for this campaign …

  24. I always had a good time on AI flights. Unfortunately their baggage handlers come from Nasir Hussain school. Bags get lost at the village fair that is AI counter and after a long delay get reunited with their family in an emotional scene.

  25. We flew AI for our last trip to Delhi, and it was GREAT. A brand-new plane, comfy seats, excellent vegetarian food, etc. I liked it so much that I want to fly AI again for our next trip.

    I like the ad campaign. I think the couples look cute together with their babies. And it reflects the reality of the 21st century–I definitely saw more intercultural couples on our AI flights than just my husband and myself.

  26. Air India is definitely a far, far more enjoyable experience than Air America, I’ll tell you that much.

  27. Ennis, the desi uncle has ALWAYS looked at non-desi(white) air hostesses and other women. It is a rite of passage almost to flirt, befriend, sleep and if he can manage marry a white woman. Every single desi man, to this day and across religion, caste, and every socio-economic marker i can think of, wants to sleep with a white woman.

    Tangential to the topic but, DBD male here, in my 40s, married with children, never slept with anyone but my desi wife and don’t flirt with any air-hostesses. Have many friends that are of similar values, while some that are not. Will such anecdotal evidence help you be less cynical and more open? Probably not, since it is more about you rather than desi men!

  28. Floridian, it’s always nice to read your comments.

    As a mom of young children, I’ve got to say AI rocks. After flying business and first around the world, i rolled my eyes at spouse for booking economy on AI for our last trip to desh. as a thrifty desi, the price was pocket-friendly. The cabin crew was super friendly and accomodated, pampered and doted upon our kids, while mom and dad got a little rest. The definitely made up for the lack of amenities on the plane, besides, I had all the movies and music I wanted/needed on my ipod. I am an AI convert!

  29. This is a scam ad. ie an ad which has been created specifically by Bobby Pawar at DDB India for the express purpose of winning award at the Cannes advertising award show.And it is a shameless rip off of an earlier ad campaign done by Air France( see linkhttp://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/air_france_double_life?size=_original)

    It is definitely not a sign of changing of Air India or anything else. As a matter of fact the company is bankrupt and has not paid any salaries to its staff for this month

  30. Air India is definitely a far, far more enjoyable experience than Air America, I’ll tell you that much.

    The failed radio channel that had that clown Al Franken ? Yes, I agree. Air India is much more entertaining.

  31. AI had their chance! We only fly Emirates. Their ice entertainment system is unbeatable!

  33. I always had a good time on AI flights. Unfortunately their baggage handlers come from Nasir Hussain school.

    Mr X, hope you never fly United, because United breaks Sitars .

    the uncle with the hennaed hair who knows all of the hottest club dance moves.

    eennis. way to sneak in hints about your styling and your jiving.

  34. Ennis, the desi uncle has ALWAYS looked at non-desi(white) air hostesses and other women. It

    What a ridiculous statement. I haven’t seen that at all, and I’ve had discussions with desi guys and they told me that they were lucky to be part of a “group” that had so many beautiful women. Like the other dude who wrote saying this was the farthest thing from his experience – your anecdote has nothing to do with “ALWAYS”.

    When I was kid I heard my parents say AI was awesome. Something changed in the management and it had gone downhill I believe in the late ’80s. I don’t know how it is now. I always remember as a kid (and we don’t have this experience, unless we fly first-class I guess, anymore in most airlines) the air hostesses were so sweet bringing all sorts of puzzles and toys – my older sis and I were completely entertained.

    I’ll kindof miss the fat maharaja…would like to see some diversity in the mixed couples – some Indian and African American, some Indian and East Asian..it is a globalized world.

  36. It looks similiar… but I guess in my mind it’s more about the choice of AIR INDIA to use this idea for an advertising campaign (reference to intercultural relationships AND insinuated they had SEX (ahem… made babies) at the same time?) that is interesting to me, rather than if they campaign is similiar to any others.

  39. This ad has not been shown in India. And I don’t think it will ever be shown. There are many ads made just for winning awards. Do not read too much into it.

  40. ennis wrote: “The Maharaja was from an era of arranged marriages, when nobody spoke of dating, let alone across the colour line. I’ll bet he never looked once at a non-desi air hostess, no matter how flirtatious.”

    Ennis, Shah Jahan was a Maharaja, and he had a marriage with a Portuguese girl. Rajiv Gandhi was effectively a maharajah, since he INHERITED it from his dynasty, and he married an Italian.

    Also, the Indian cartoon looks like a white guy. He’s got pink skin, just like all the other Indian cartoon characters. Some of the Indian cartoon characters, such as Hanuman, even has blue eyes and brown hair.

    Sure, this ad is tacky, but I’m glad that it shows a darker Indian girl.

  41. Boston_Mahesh – I don’t have a problem with the ad. In fact, both this and the male counterpart involve darker Indians and lighter spouses.

  42. rishi “This ad has not been shown in India. And I don’t think it will ever be shown. There are many ads made just for winning awards. Do not read too much into it.”

    well….OK… but I still like it. It makes me happy…

    And on an entirely other (but slightly related) note.. I don’t get why people don’t think those kids could be Michael Jackson’s… I mean check out these (adorable) children here… presuming they are really the combination of the two adults pictures… they are certainly in between their parents in coloring but seem to favor the lighter side (or maybe since they are babies they haven’t been in the sun much yet?) So if a white guy and a darker (beautiful!) desi lady can have a relative fair looking child, why can’t old MJ?

  43. AI is horrible. One particularily memorable flight, a 10 hour delay, flying alone as a minor and missing my connection in Mumbai because of the delay. No one helped me or even pretended to help me from AI. On this same flight I sat by the kitchen and saw roaches on the food carts, so I didn’t eat a thing on the whole flight. I’ve flown a lot of airlines and AI is bar none the worst I’ve ever been on.

    My husband’s grandfather was a pilot for AI in the 40s. He was killed while flying a cargo route over the Himalayas. No compensation was provided to his widow, or his surviving children.

  44. So if a white guy and a darker (beautiful!) desi lady can have a relative fair looking child, why can’t old MJ?

    Linzi, it’s much more than the skin coloring (and by the way you get the same difference in skin color with desi kids and like me, you’ll end up with a light-skinned mom with very dark-skinned kids, so no biggie there) – it’s the fact that the children do not seem to have any of MJ’s beautiful features (MJ was just beautiful w/o that crap surgery) and their hair does not look like a black/white mixed hair – it’s too NATURALLY straight to me – those are not issues with desi/white products. MJ had a very wide nose, so it’s a little surprising that the children do not have anything similar to that.

  45. But didn’t (excuse me if I get it wrong) Debbie Rowe have very blonde hair and a very typical white narrow nose… I mean who is to say which nose a kid will inherit… In my family… my nose looks exactly like my mom’s whereas my sisters doesn’t really look like either parents’ nose.

    I dunno, I mean I am not saying that I absolutely think that those are his kids, I really don’t know. But I just seem to think that people tend to assume that when interracial couples have children, the child will look more _______ (fill in whatever is NOT white).

    I had a little girl in my kindergarten class whose mom was Irish-American and her dad was Bengali. She had dark hair and eyes, but her skin was rather light (as in lighter than my olive skin tone). As a 5 or 6 year old, I don’t think someone could see her (without her parents present) and guess that she is half Irish and Bengali.

    Anyways, I know this is a total tangent, but I just thought it was interesting to see the babies in the photos and the variation from their parents. (presuming they are real families to begin with, of course!)

  46. “So if a white guy and a darker (beautiful!) desi lady can have a relative fair looking child, why can’t old MJ?”

    This couples is not a real couple and that child, that’s not their child.

    I think it may be Suri Cruise.

    oh the power of the media to melt critical thinking.

  47. My first thought was “who the hell is Suri Cruise?”

    hmm. Anyways, how do you know if they are real couples or not? Do you know something? bataiye, yaar.

  48. Linzi – We are so o/t and smintern will come in a minute – but I’d think children of mixed parents will have a blend? of their features. Anyways I don’t know much about genetics and the dominant gene and what not…but between MJ’s hair and nose they just don’t look anything like MJ – anything is possible I guess unless a geneticist can tell me differently; I’ve known kids who are the offspring of white and indian and they look completely indian – meaning their hair is black, their eyes are black and they happen to have a darker skin tone.

  49. “My first thought was “who the hell is Suri Cruise?”

    hmm. Anyways, how do you know if they are real couples or not? Do you know something? bataiye, yaar.”

    You are serious? About the ad I mean, not the illustrous Suri Cruise.