Low-fares airline Ryanair said today that the video for its charity calendar featuring cabin crew has been viewed by over 150,000 people, no doubt helped by the storm of controversy and criticism from politicians and anti-sexism groups.
The company said that sales of the calendar will raise €100,000 for Dublin’s Simon Community.
And so far, over 3,500 calendars have been sold – 1,000 of these online.
However, because the calendar features cabin crew who have stripped for charity, the release of the charity calendar has attracted outcry from women’s groups in Spain, anti-sexism groups in Sweden, and UK politicians who have described it as “soft porn.”
Ironically, it seems, these groups very outrage has actually resulted in making the charity calendar a hit.
As usual, Ryanair is unapologetic. “The girls of Ryanair are flying high on YouTube, with 150,000 people logging on to show their support to the 2009 Ryanair Cabin Crew Charity Calendar,” crowed spokesman, Stephen McNamara.
“We are delighted with the interest in the calendar and the support for our campaign to defend the right of girls to take their clothes off for charity.
“What ugly women’s groups and stupid anti-sexism organisations fail to acknowledge is that the entire proceeds of each calendar will go directly to charity. A quarter of the calendars have sold already, so we urge those who want to secure a copy of this year’s hottest calendar to log on to www.ryanair.com as soon as possible, as the numbers are strictly limited to 10,000,” McNamara said.
By John Kennedy
