An advertisement for an airline competition that portrays older, single women as "cougars" who prey on young men at night has incurred the wrath of both male and female rape victims in New Zealand.
"Cougar" has become a popular term for sexually aggressive older women on the hunt for younger men. But the term can be viewed either as misogynistic or a word of empowerment.
An online spoof documentary by Air New Zealand, promoting a competition for free tickets to a rugby tournament, tells of a so-called cougar starving herself during the day then "hunting large slabs of meat at night" by stalking young men at a bar.
The voiceover says despite men's attempts to ward off the woman's advances, the cougar has "not tasted fresh meat for days" and drags her victims to her inner-city apartment, often forcing them to listen to "Enya or the Eurythmics."
New Zealand's Rape Prevention Education has labelled the ad appalling, disgusting and degrading to women, adding that some Air New Zealand staff were also concerned about the promotion. "They find it degrading and that it is encouraging potentially harmful behaviour, so my question is why is our national carrier promoting sexually predatory behaviour?" director Kim McGregor said.
"We have also had complaints from male survivors who have been raped by women and they are very distressed that their situation is being laughed at and made out to be humorous," she said.
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