Editorial

We seem to be growing more sensitive to anniversaries and their meanings, to communal acts of public remembering in general. It was strangely apt to notice that an argument about Air New Zealand’s in-flight safety videos erupted on November 28, which happens to be the 39th anniversary of the crash of flight TE901 into the lower slopes of Mt Erebus, but the timing was entirely coincidental.

The anniversary certainly puts the opinions about the usefulness or triviality of the latest inflight video into sharp relief. Would a bright, colourful, celebrity-packed video have made any difference to those 237 passengers and 20 crew on that day in 1979? Of course not.

Regional Development Minister Shane Jones has attacked the latest in-flight video as a ‘‘juvenile mishmash’’. If you have flown on our national carrier recently and paid attention, you will have noticed that the video has a hip-hop theme, features Hunt for the Wilderpeople star Julian Dennison in a cast of hundreds and lasts for what seems like an eternity. To be fair, it actually lasts for four minutes and 37 seconds, but that feels like an eternity if your flight only takes an hour.

Jones, who may be New Zealand’s most quotable politician, said this: ‘‘Based on my quite scientific assessment of travellers’ views about that video, I have never heard the F-word more frequently and they’re not saying ‘first class’.’’

There is a strong possibility that Jones’ negative review of the safety video is really about something else. It is another episode in a series of criticisms of Air NZ that is starting to resemble a one-man campaign. Jones attacked the airline for closing regional routes, which is at least within his portfolio, and called for chairman Tony Carter to step down. The latest attack seems to be part of a tit-for-tat with Air NZ CEO Christopher Luxon, who told current affairs show Q+A on Sunday that Jones’ criticisms had not been ‘‘helpful or constructive’’.

Opinions of the videos are of course subjective. Many will have thought the disco-themed video featuring former aerobics show frontman Richard Simmons was the worst. Some found the more recent Antarctica-themed video to be in bad taste, considering the legacy of the Mt Erebus disaster. Jones is a fan of an earlier one set in Northland. Unofficial polls show that people have fond memories of videos based on The Hobbit movies and the All Blacks. No-one seemed to like the one featuring actors Katie Holmes and Cuba Gooding Jr as god-like giants naming New Zealand.

We all remember the videos, even ones that screened years ago and especially the ones we disliked, but how many of us are any the wiser about what to do in the event of an emergency? The message has sometimes got lost in the cleverness and we might be better informed by returning to the basics of having oxygen masks and exits demonstrated by a bored-looking flight attendant. This is because a primary purpose of the videos is tourism promotion, building on jokey perceptions of our scenery and culture. Air NZ is obviously proud of the more than 20 million online views of the new video, half of which came from China.

In the meantime flying, like driving, is continually getting safer. That largely comes down to advances in technology, and that happens whether we pay attention to the corny in-flight videos or not.

‘‘We all remember the videos, even ones that screened years ago and especially the ones we disliked, but how many of us are any the wiser about what to do in the event of an emergency?’’