Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.In today’s over-the-top airline safety video culture (and yes– there is a culture), it’s pretty much commonplace to find yourself cringing through safety instructions before takeoff. However, it’s rare that a video is so bad that it gets pulled from planes.Enter Air New Zealand’s “It’s Kiwi Saftey” safety video: a 5-minute rap set to the beat of Run DMC’s “It’s Tricky” that was so “unbearable” that the airline axed it from flights altogether.Starring local New Zealand musicians Kings, Randa and Theia as they cheerfully rap about plane safety, the video serves up cringe-worthy lines like “sit upright, hands on thighs, feet on floor – it’s just like twerking” about sitting properly in case of an inflight emergency (or “pickle,” as they phrased it), numerous dance numbers, technicolored costumes and, of course, somebody flossing. Needless to say, it didn’t take long after its debut on the tarmac for people to start criticizing it on social media.Not even Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones liked the video. “I don’t want to be too petty,” he told the NZ Herald. “But the reality is the (video) trivializes safety; I think it’s a juvenile mishmash and it’s toneless.” Celebrities like Anderson .Paak and Donald Glover were also subjected to the infamous video before its removal.So, after a barrage of criticism (although Air New Zealand is saying that its decision is based on “a new campaign to stimulate domestic travel and promote tourism to Northland”), “It’s Kiwi” will be no more. In its place, passengers can now expect to see a safety clip called “Summer of Safety” from 2016 – one that Jones actually likes. “I liked the one about up North, the one with Rachel Hunter, her hanging out with the Maoris,” he said.
