Thai Airways Tries To Cover Logo On Crashed Plane, Gets Egg On Face Instead
from the the-cover-up-is-always-worse-than-the-crime dept
There's a saying that goes: the coverup is always worse than the crime. It's a sort of catchall phrase that can be applied to the Streisand Effect for the way in which a group's inability to assume proper responsibility vaults their transgression into the limelight in a way it otherwise would not have, while simultaneously causing them to look petty, callous, or devious. The point is, as most of us adults have learned, that when you're caught doing something wrong your best bet is to readily accept the blame and begin working on rebuilding your brand. If you don't, you look like a jerk.Speaking of which, Thai Airways is suddenly looking like a jerk. The airline seems to have a problem keeping the landing gear working on its planes as of late. After a crash in Hong Kong two weeks ago, another Thai Airways Airbus plane suffered faulty landing gear and injured 14 people when it skidded onto a Bangkok runway. Then, because apparently the company is run by junior high school children, they sent a crew out to the plane to hastily paint over the company logo on the tail-section, even as the rest of the plane was garbed in easy-to-identify company colors.
Today, the plane was seen resting on grass next to the runway with its evacuation slides still deployed and the Thai Airways name and logo hastily covered up.
The move to black-out the logo may have been a response to last night's incident coming less than two weeks after 20 passengers were injured when a Thai Airways flight hit severe turbulence as it was descending to Hong Kong's airport. Although the logo was unable to be seen, the plane's airline colours were unmistakable and easily compared to Thai Airways jets taking off or landing in the vicinity, which happens quite a bit in Bangkok.
Except it doesn't work like that of course and now the news is filled with reports of Thai Airways trying to shirk their responsibility for yet another crash with the kind of move Sesame Street teaches you not to pull. Enjoy that Streisanding, folks! Think about how many more people now know not to fly your planes!
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Filed Under: coverup, plane crash, streisand effect, thai airways, trademark
Companies: thai airways
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Absolute best part...
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I saw this and laughed so hard I broke another plane.
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Obviously the airline is avoiding frivolous lawsuits. People will get off the plane and try to sue...but the lack of ownership will prevent proper documents.
Problem solved. But..they should have used TP. Easier to explain
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Re:
Since this is evidently their standard operating procedure, you'd think they would keep giant tarps on hand to throw over the wreckage of their planes. That way they can literally cover up accidents, without damaging the paint job.
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That blacking out..
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Air Canada has done this too
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Screw Popcorn
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"And don't call me Shirley"
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Even better...
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Re:
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Instead of having a big (negative) ad sign right next to the runway for a few weeks, where 100% of the people could see the airline's name, and which would be imprinted on their memories; now only 10% recognizes it, and another 10% is curious enough to find out.
Big difference... it seems like a smart thing to do.
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"Big difference... it seems like a smart thing to do."
I disagree. The other branding on the aircraft is clearly visible. If this is common practice, it would do nothing to stop me from noticing, although I admit I'm a frequent flyer. But, most airlines spend a lot of money making sure their branding is visible and recognisable across the whole plane, not just the tail. Hiding and hoping that people won't remember the crashed plane is not a great way of doing things, IMHO.
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That they can get more press time is another story, which makes questioning the effectiveness very valid.
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Logo coverup
The reason the the media is getting so excited is that plane crashes used to be a regular event, so nobody paid any attention to the logos being painted over. Nowadays, plane crashes are extremely rare, so painting over the logo has become a spectacular non-event.
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But that's my point. I can recognise a plane without seeing the tail fin, and those companies have spent millions branding their planes to do just that - be recognisable at a distance even if part of the plane is obscured. At least one airline I'm familiar with (Easyjet) has spent a lot of money trying to protect a single colour (orange) for this express reason.
As noted in the article, anyone familiar with the Thai Airways branding design will know it's a Thai plane even with the logos blacked out, and those who aren't so familiar can see similar enough planes in operation to put 2 and 2 together.
I simply can't see how this would make any difference to any remotely interested traveller, unless they fly so infrequently that they don't care (and thus aren't exactly their target customer to begin with) or don't care at all.
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Re: Re:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_Airlines_Flight_751
http://aviation-safety.ne t/photos/accidents/19911227-0-C-d-1-500.jpg
Post crash re-paint:
http://www.flygvardinnan.se/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1296-20070930230939.jpg
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Re: Logo coverup
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I had this explained to me once...
Hence, it's no longer an Air Canada plane, and so the logo is removed as efficiently as possible.
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Re: I had this explained to me once...
I mean, you don't see people scrambling to remove Ford branding if a Focus is trashed at the side of the road, or teams sent to remove company branding from a truck that's careened off the side of the road despite being written off. You might argue cleanup time is different, but the plane is still the insurance company's property whether or not it still has the previous owner's logos while that happens. Curious.
I can't think of any other situation where removing a previous owner's branding happens before the mess is cleared up.
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Your mom was the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Tral? That explains so much! ;)
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Coverup?
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Southwest-Airlines-Flight-1248/138178932876160
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Crash in Hong Kong
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is it common?
http://re-bornmask.com
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