Qantas Airways, First Gay Airline Commercial

Ominous music accompanies black and white imagery of various street scenes and buildings. A frustrated worker leaves his desk joined by images from a bar. An abrupt change in music and scene then takes place, switching to idyllic Hawaiian panoramas. Numerous depictions of men on vacation follow; cruising with the top down, sunning at the beach, playing affectionately in the sand, and relaxing in the ocean. This was the first gay airline ad of its time; shown at an Expo for Qantas executives.

Ian Johnson of Out Now says, "There were 3000+ LGBT consumers who attended that Saturday and the version they saw included a pic I insisted the photographer shoot when we were on Oahu filming. When the video track (ABBA - Happy Hawii) says 'I can imagine, the beach and the sand. Walking with someone and holding his hand...' it was at that spot we swapped out the image you see in the video online and replaced it with one of the shots of them holding hands on Waikiki Beach. It was from the Thursday screening for management when my client received two high-ups written feedback that to be more credible for the brand the creative had to show them as a couple and the hand-hold I had been lobbying for client to include all along (client contact was nervous until his managers concurred with my recommendation) fitted perfectly with that feedback."