Snickers pokes fun at unruly airline passengers in ‘Hungry Skies’ campaign

Airline passengers behaving badly—the issue was bad before the pandemic, but it’s gotten even worse lately. Now, Snickers climbs aboard the dispiriting trend with a comic “Hungry Skies” campaign that urges people to eat a Snickers and not rudely disrupt their flight for everyone else. A new spot from BBDO New York features a cast of generally obnoxious people, from a cane-wielding granny to a man accompanied by his emotional support snake. A loud businessman makes a cameo, and several other passengers have zero sense of personal space. Can Snickers fix everything? The spot was directed by Sheena Brady through production company World War Seven. The campaign is launching in the U.S. and Australia with TV, social, digital and in-flight/in-airport activations. By the first quarter of 2025, it will expand to more than 30 countries across Asia, Europe, Brazil, Mexico, China, India, the Middle East and Africa. Although the long-running line “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” doesn’t appear, the Mars brand is positioning the work as an extension of that 14-year-old campaign. The brand also says “Hungry Skies” is timely, given the increasing number of negative incidents aboard aircraft—and with international tourism expected to grow 15% in 2024. The campaign loses a bit of its charm, though, in tying itself to unruly air passengers. The whole appeal of “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” is its relatability—we all do get a little cranky when we’re hungry. Few people would consider themselves rude travelers, however—certainly not on the level of folks who make news in that regard. We don’t—and shouldn’t—have any sympathy for these people, which dampens our emotional response a bit. (The whole thing, as cartoony as it is, feels kind of bleak by the end.) The spot seems to acknowledge this disconnect, with the granny at the beginning and the onscreen text at the end both addressing flight attendants. And indeed, they might be the only ones—rather than the public at large—who fully relate to this creative. We’ll have to wait and see how else this campaign manifests, but this is a bit of a bumpy start.

Snickers pokes fun at unruly airline passengers in ‘Hungry Skies’ campaign

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