Managing Employees - Aesthetic Labour - Hale and Pace on 'Yorkshire Airlines'

Aesthetic labour is the labour people do through the way they look and behave. Managers and organisations actively manage this aspect of people's looks and behaviour. Airlines are a good example to illustrate this e.g. Air New Zealand, as national airlines are not only selling seats but also their country. 

The following Youtube video is a skit about 'Yorkshire Airlines' from the British 'Hale and Pace' television comedy series. This is an inspired skit about the fictitious Yorkshire Airlines 'style' of service. It pokes gentle fun at all things Yorkshire whilst at the same time parodying the trend for airlines to style their brand with the cultural features of their nation of origin. Parody works by exaggerating characteristics of its target, thereby enabling them to be seen more clearly by an audience. Note the features of Yorkshire airline's style that are the target of Hale and Pace's humour; greetings, look, accents and mannerisms of the cabin crew, onboard entertainment in first-class and economy class (that is a weasel the captain is pulling out of his pants as economy class entertainment), pilot preoccupations, toilet facilities, food service and so on.