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Feb 11, 2009 10:17 pm US/Central
Southwest Plane Sports Bikini-Clad Image
DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Everything from Shamu to the Texas flag has graced the side of a Southwest Airlines airplane. All the replica models of the planes are on display at the airline's headquarters in Dallas. But get ready for a new addition.
"I think it looks good. It's another reason to look up into the sky," said one passenger.
Many passengers reacted the same way when CBS11 showed them a picture of a Southwest airplane with a swimsuit model.
"It doesn't bother me at all. I think it's funny," said passenger Ashley Jackson.
Sports Illustrated and Southwest Airlines joined forces to put a the model above the clouds. A mammoth decal of this year's cover girl in a tiny bikini was carefully applied to a 737.
"I'm more conservative, so I think it's a bit much. I can see they're going for shock value," said passenger Nicole Joe.
The plane was unveiled Wednesday at LaGuardia Airport, making Israeli model Bar Refaeli the ultimate jet setter. For the next two months, the swimsuit plane will travel throughout the country carrying thousands of passengers.
"I think we are one of the only airlines out there that has the personality that can pull something like this off," said SWA spokesperson Beth Harbin. "We're certainly not afraid to be different, not afraid to be edgy, not afraid to be fun."
But the head of the Dallas Feminist Group says Southwest's edgy approach may be going over the edge.
"Families will probably use this plane and kids will probably see this image. The message that this image sends to young girls and boys is that reducing a woman to a sexual object is not only OK, but it's normal in our culture," said Evita Cortez with the Dallas Feminist Group.
Harbin says the swimsuit plane will make stops at Dallas Love Field, but no firm dates have been set.
Passenger Kyla Ebbert was removed from a Southwest airplane in the summer of 2007 because airline officials said her outfit was too skimpy.
Harbin says that incident has nothing to do with the airline's relationship with Sports Illustrated.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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