NZ airline: Cash for bald-head billboards

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- A New Zealand airline says it is holding "casting calls" for people willing to shave their heads and become walking billboards.

Air New Zealand said it is willing to pay $1,000 for each "Cranial Billboard," which involves a temporary tattoo promoting the airline's new domestic check-in procedures emblazoned across a bald head, The National Business Review reported Wednesday.

The company said the tattoos last for about two weeks.

Steve Bayliss, Air New Zealand's general manager for marketing, said the campaign is aimed at spreading the word that the company's new policy, which allows customers to select their seats online and have boarding passes sent to them via e-mail or cell phones, will bring about shorter lines.

"You end up staring at the back of people's heads, waiting for the line to move forward," he said of waiting in line. "So how better to tell our customers that Air New Zealand is going to do something about it at our three main domestic airports than through messaging they can read while they're standing in a queue themselves?"