Kulula because they're funny |
3 Jan 2013 |
Neither new nor even particularly witty was the caption on one of my friend's Facebook photos recently: "Save water – drink wine!" She is a wine-lover with a sense of humour, as are most of her friends, so we all (or most of us) enjoyed the sentiment. But there, quick as a flash, before you could even refill your wine-glass, came the accusingly po-faced retort from another friend,"The only problem is that wine production wastes more water than you think - almost 720 litres of water for just one wine bottle! " and then proceeded to give the complete link to the website (The Economist online) from which she had obtained this dire information!
The point is not to minimise the importance of conservation or to mock the well- meaning (but sometimes misguided) intentions of all you tree-huggers out there, the point is ... where is your sense of humour, for crying out loud? Some things are just not meant to be taken seriously! Which brings me to the topic of my essay – my favourite domestic airline has to be Kulula! Why? Simply because from the outset, their whole marketing plan was based on the premise that although an airline must, by its very nature, be professional, quality-conscious and safety-oriented, this does not mean that the actual journey should not beenjoyable and light-hearted!
The livery of the planes, the commentary by the cabin crew, the logo, the adverts that appeared in the media – all these things were, and are, cleverly designed to do one thing: make you smile (sometimes even laugh out loud!). I'll always remember one of my first flights with Kulula – the female flight attendant adopted an "Afrikaanse koekie" accent throughout the hilarious landing commentary; the passengers were in stitches and thus in a great mood upon arrival.
The Kulula team are well known for their fun marketing exploits and the flying 101 paint job lives up to their high standards. Each part of the aircraft is labelled with humorous captions such as "Loo (or mile-high initiation chamber)" and "Landing gear (comes standard with super-fly mags)". The camoplane is equally as creative and amusing, and why not? Why should aeroplanes not be different and as individual as possible? This has nothing to do with the safety and security of the crew and passengers – it has to do with having FUN!
Of course, there will always be complaints about delays and bad treatment, and the usual killjoys will find the commentary irritating and unfunny, but no-one can accuse Kulula of not being original or of not trying to make one's flight as entertaining as possible!
We all know that life can be difficult – demanding, depressing and dangerous even (if you live in Africa especially), so why not inject some wit and laughter into situations where one can? Many of us take ourselves far too seriously and have not yet learnt an important lesson – we must be able to laugh at ourselves. Just ask the great Zapiro (cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro) or satirists like Pieter-Dirk Uys – it may be painful, but it is when we can laugh at ourselves that we are the most human and the most equal...
Click here to see more Kulula humour.
Category : Kulula Airlines ; Author : Michele
