ADVERTISING: Fly Me Again

Since National Airlines took off with its “I’m Cheryl. Fly me” campaign in 1971, the sexy—and sexist—slogan has enraged feminists. It has also pulled in business. National reported a 23% increase in passengers during the first year of the campaign, nearly twice that of the industry as a whole. Having succeeded that well with sex. National is now drumming up an even more suggestive campaign scheduled for television airing this summer. The new ads feature National stewardesses looking seductively into the camera and breathing “I’m going to fly you like you’ve never been flown before.” The film makers coach them “to say it like you’re standing there stark naked.” A San Francisco-based group called Stewardesses for Equal Rights is considering complaining to the Federal Communications Commission and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.