The British Airways "Face" advertisement was a

television commercial A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

campaign by

British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...

in 1989. The commercial was made by advertising firm

Saatchi & Saatchi Saatchi & Saatchi is a British multinational communications and advertising agency network with 114 offices in 76 countries and over 6,500 staff. It was founded in 1970 and is currently headquartered in London. The parent company of the agency gr ...

, having been written by

Graham Fink Graham Fink is a Multimedia artist and one of the world's most awarded creatives. He was recently Chief Creative Officer at the advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather in China. Before taking up that appointment in April 2011 he was Executiv ...

and Jeremy Clarke, with

Hugh Hudson Hugh Hudson (born 25 August 1936) is an English film director. He was among a generation of British directors who would begin their career making documentaries and television commercials before going on to have success in films. He directed the ...

as director. It is often considered to be a television commercial classic.

Production

The advertisement was produced in the US state of

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, with thousands of extras participating in the advertisement. Places of production included

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

Lake Powell Lake Powell is an artificial reservoir on the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona, United States. It is a major vacation destination visited by approximately two million people every year. It is the second largest artificial reservoir by maximum ...

, and the salt flats near

Moab, Utah Moab () is the largest city and county seat of Grand County in eastern Utah in the western United States, known for its dramatic scenery. The population was 5,366 at the 2020 census. Moab attracts many tourists annually, mostly visitors to th ...

Content

Viewers first see a group of swimmers swimming, all wearing red clothing. A close-up of one of the swimmer's lips appear, and then, a quick cut into an aerial view of the swimmers walking out of the water in the shape of a human lip. Afterwards, viewers see a group of people, wearing blue and black, walking on the streets of a city, forming the shape of an eye. And then, a group of people, wearing white, walking on a grassland and forming the shape of an ear. Afterwards, these groups of people (with the exception of the group that formed the ear, perhaps because they will eventually form the face instead) gather on a salt flat, and a scene is shown where people from all walks of life, from all cultures around the world unite, with the British

Union Jack The Union Jack, or Union Flag, is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. Although no law has been passed making the Union Flag the official national flag of the United Kingdom, it has effectively become such through precedent. ...

in the background, and British Airways crew members in the midst of it. A voiceover says "Every year, the world's favourite airline brings 24 million people, together". The scene then cuts to an aerial view of the face, which smiles and winks. Afterwards, the face turns into the impression of the globe. The sound track is "Aria" by

Yanni Yiannis Chryssomallis ( el, Γιάννης Χρυσομάλλης; born November 14, 1954), known professionally as Yanni ( ), is a Greek-American composer, keyboardist, pianist, and music producer. Yanni continues to use the musical shorthand ...

and

Malcolm McLaren Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren (22 January 1946 – 8 April 2010) was an English impresario, visual artist, singer, songwriter, musician, clothes designer and boutique owner, notable for combining these activities in an inventive and provoc ...

, an adaptation of the

Flower Duet The "Flower Duet" is a duet for soprano and mezzo-soprano in the first act of Léo Delibes' opera ''Lakmé'', premiered in Paris in 1883. It is sung by the characters Lakmé, daughter of a Brahmin priest, and her servant Mallika, as they go to g ...

from

Léo Delibes Clément Philibert Léo Delibes (; 21 February 1836 – 16 January 1891) was a French Romantic composer, best known for his ballets and operas. His works include the ballets ''Coppélia'' (1870) and '' Sylvia'' (1876) and the opera ''Lakm� ...

' 1883 opera ''

Lakmé ''Lakmé'' is an opera in three acts by Léo Delibes to a French libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille. The score, written from 1881 to 1882, was first performed on 14 April 1883 by the Opéra-Comique at the (second) Salle Favart in P ...

''.

Versions

There are three versions of the commercial. One is the original version, which was recut into another version around 1994 because new uniform was introduced for British Airways crew members. Another version was aired during

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

, where the ending was replaced with a child hugging

Father Christmas Father Christmas is the traditional English name for the personification of Christmas. Although now known as a Christmas gift-bringer, and typically considered to be synonymous with Santa Claus, he was originally part of a much older and unrel ...

and a cut into a view of Earth from space.

Honours

The ad is often considered to be a British Airways classic, and it is ranked 62 on The 100 Greatest TV Ads television programme aired by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

in 2000. This was a poll conducted by Channel 4 and ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

''. It ranked higher on

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for t ...

's "ITV's Best Ads Ever" programme aired in 2005, ranking at number 15.

Subsequent advert

Subsequent British Airways "Island" advertisements, which were also directed by Hugh Hudson and which aired beginning in 1995 and 1996, featured helicopters seen stretching large coloured sheets of white, red and blue across an island, arranged in such a way so that at the end of the advert, the island resembled the atlas of Earth.

Parodies

In 1994, the ad was parodied by

Hotpoint Hotpoint is a British brand of domestic appliances. Ownership of the brand is split between American company Whirlpool, which has the rights in Europe, and Chinese company Haier, which has the rights in the Americas through its purchase of GE A ...

for their washing machines, featuring crowds of people in the shape of articles of clothing like T-shirts and underpants set to similar music. In 2007,

Silverjet Silverjet was a British all- business class airline headquartered at London Luton Airport in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that, prior to the suspension of operations on 30 May 2008, operated services to Newark Liberty International Airport an ...

parodied the ad, using the same locations and the

aria on which the music for the original ad was based. The Silverjet ad also features a face, but it is formed of only four bodies (two eyes, mouth and nose) to emphasize the exclusivity of an all business class airline. Likewise the music is minimalist, quickly cutting to an

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

recording of the Flower Duet, the use of the original opera version rather than a pop rerecording, again evoking the exclusivity of the airline. This ad was made by the makers of the original ad, then at

M&C Saatchi M&C Saatchi Group () is an international communications network headquartered in London, formed in May 1995. With more than 2,400 staff, the network spans 23 countries with major hubs in the UK, Europe, US, Middle East & Africa, Asia and Austral ...

, having lost the British Airways contract.{{cite web , title=splendAd - Silverjet - Face , url=http://www.splendad.com/ads/show/1824-Silverjet-Face , website=www.splendad.com, access-date=2019-10-23, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080411225843/http://www.splendad.com:80/ads/show/1824-Silverjet-Face , archive-date=2008-04-11

References

External links

British Airways "Face" advert

British Airways "Island" advert

Hotpoint parody on YouTube

Silverjet parody on YouTube
1980s television commercials 1989 in British television 1989 works British television commercials British Airways