PIA decided to celebrate 'Independence day in style' and it immediately backfired
- By Salah Uddin -
- Aug 13, 2018
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) attempt to celebrate “Independence day in style” has drawn a lot of criticism after it hired a foreign blogger to attempt the viral Kiki challenge on one of the national carrier’s planes, ARY News reported.
The national carrier announced a day before Independence day that a European travel blogger Eva zu Beck will be celebrating Independence day with PIA “in a style never before attempted in the world”.
The airline didn’t release the video but the the travel blogger did it on her social media page tagging the airline.
#PIA #IndependenceDay #IndependenceDay2018 pic.twitter.com/vVqUKvn3ne
— nomannasir (@nomannasir83) August 13, 2018
As soon as the video was posted on the travel blogger’s account, a number of Pakistanis criticised and objected upon the disrespect of the national flag by the national carrier’s marketing team.
The airline and the blogger both removed the video from their respective social media accounts after criticism.
Chairman NAB takes notice
Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Justice (retired) Javed Iqbal has taken notice of the incident and has asked PIA’s CEO to name the officers behind the campaign.
NAB Chairman added that all those involved in disrespecting the national flag will be brought to book and an inquiry will be ordered to find out who allowed the woman to enter the runway and the plane.
In her response, the travel blogger maintained that she was doing a video blog with PIA about traveling to Karachi when someone suggested she should do the kiki challenge video for promotion of tourism in the country as such videos are trending.
“So I thought it could be a fun way to promote tourism in Pakistan but I do appreciate that some people didn’t like the video for some reason, so if that’s the case I do apologise.. for I meant only positive things,” the lady said on her Facebook account.
She, however, added that she will continue her efforts for promotion of tourism in Pakistan.