All we need now is some more QLD whinging about lifeboats lol
MP mad about Jetstar map
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August 28, 2006 - 3:59PM AdvertisementAdvertisement
A West Australian MP is furious with Jetstar for its pictorial advertising in Thailand which shows South-East Asia perched above Sydney while Perth is "pushed somewhere below Baghdad".
State member for Perth John Hyde said Jetstar's advertising campaign for new direct flights between Bangkok and Melbourne and Sydney which uses the slogan 'Australia's closer than ever' was damaging for the WA capital.
Mr Hyde said Perth owed some of its economic success to its proximity to South-East Asia, but the Jetstar ads were "dudding" Thais - Asia's most frequent travellers - into believing Melbourne and Sydney were closer to South-East Asia than Perth.
He said he was angry Jetstar was ignoring Perth by launching its services only using Sydney and Melbourne.
"And I am furious that they have to do it by manipulating the map," he said.
Mr Hyde, patron of the Thai-Australian Association in WA, made the tongue-in-cheek remark that he hoped Jetstar's pilots won't use the map shown in the advertisement.
"They'll think they're heading due north for Bangkok's new airport at Suvarnabhumi and end up in Suva, Fiji," he said.
Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said Mr Hyde was entitled to his opinion.
But Mr Westaway said Jetstar made "no apology" for pictorial advertising that reflected its intention to promote its direct international flights from Melbourne and Sydney to Thailand.
He said Jetstar hoped in the future to also have direct international flights from Perth.
