British Airways - Human Aligator

British Airways - Human Aligator

It’s a well-known fact that Britain hasn’t been home to any large, predatory animals for thousands of years. That’s probably why British Airways’ latest experiential campaign, the Human Alligator, proved to be such a big head-turner.

The airline wanted to promote flights from London Gatwick Airport to Florida, and in particular, the increasingly popular tourist destination of Tampa Bay. Famous for its abundant alligator population, Tampa Bay is not really a top destination for many travelling Brits, so British Airways decided to shock folks into considering the destination with an optical illusion of ‘wild’ proportions. In late May, the airline teamed up with body paint artist Johannes Stoetter to execute the Human Alligator. Over the space of five intensive hours, Stoetter airbrushed three human models.

Then the very supple models intertwined limbs and lay semi-still on a runway at London’s Gatwick Airport, causing the three airbrushed designs to combine to replicate a Florida alligator. It was a thrilling spectacle for many passengers travelling through Gatwick Airport on an otherwise typical day.

A video posted to the British Airways YouTube channel shows a time-lapse of the entire body-painting process and it has enjoyed over 11,000 views. The story of this unusual, yet creative project was told in reports by the Independent , International Business Times , BizJournals and a number of other local and international press.