The first three Singapore Airline Exclusive items are offered through Kris Shop, their duty free shop. Captions were copied and pasted directly from the source. Images of the last item, a Mattel Barbie doll, was retrieved from a personal website.
" SIA Sarong Kebaya Uniform for Girls: A petite version of the authentic SIA Sarong Kebaya. Detach the Cabin Crew Staff ID Card and paste your photo on it. Presented in the same authentic batik drawstring bag."
From "detach the...card and past your photo on it", it is clear that the caption's target audience is a little girl. The fact that little girls would indeed dream of dressing up and becoming a Singapore Girl, has the potential to make her a very resistant, enduring icon. Children will grow up having memories of her charisma and beauty, and these memories can build consumer loyalty.
A journal article by Braun, Ellis and Loftus (2002), "Make My Memory: How Advertising Can Change Our Memories of the Past" demonstrates and claims that autobiographical referencing can lead to the creation of a false or distorted memory. Having viewed a Disney advertisement that suggested they had shaken hands with Mickey Mouse as a child, relative to controls, participants became increasingly confident that they had indeed shaken hands with Mickey. This increase in confidence could just be the revival of a true memory or the creation of a new and false one, but after participants viewed a Disney ad that suggested they had shaken hands with an impossible character, such as Bugs Bunny, the similar increases in confidence that that had indeed happened show that the autobiographical referencing had helped create a false memory in viewers, as a means of creating nostalgia for their products.
Although the caption does not autobiographically reference the viewer, it can suggest to a female viewer that perhaps she had, when younger, wished to be like a Singapore Girl. A more plausible advertising effect would the impression it gives that the Singapore Girl is so popular and charming that other children might want to be a Singapore Girl. In this way, the advertisement creates a subconscious, positive memory of the Singapore Girl as an admired idol.
The fact that there exists for sale through the Airline's Kris Shop an exclusive, "authentic" dress with a matching "authentic" bag suggests that identical-looking items from other stores are not be authentic, i.e. are mere imitations. To be able to interact with a real Singapore Girl on the flight gives you the authentic experience. What the caption is trying to advertise is, "you don't want a copy of the trademark Singapore Girl's uniform, you want the real one, so you can feel like the real one too."
" Singapore Airlines Silk Scarf Bring the famed Singapore Girl motif home in a lovely scarf as a souvenir or gift."
The sale and demand for a flight attendant's uniform shows how much of a trademark the batik motif has become. Now her trademark motif is attached to a scarf, something feminine, soft and silky, sophisticated and elegant, which through its tangible and always visible qualities expands the qualities associated with the Singapore Girl. The silk scarf is also something you can take with you wherever you go, to show off your patronage to one of the most expensively priced flights in Asia (choosing to fly SIA can at times be compared to buying a veblen good). Even if others do not recognize the motif, they will appreciate the design to be exotic, rare, not to mention beautiful.
For tourists, a souvenir is an item bought in remembrance, often of a visit to a place. If SIA can sell souvenirs of the Singapore Girl, not just model airplanes of its aircraft, then the aircraft has really been turned into a place where the flight became a truly memorable experience, not just a form of transport--the boring, tedious process of getting from one point to another. SIA has turned its flight transport into an experience--boarding an SIA flight can be as memorable as visiting another destination.
When the motif can be isolated from the stewardess who wears it, who can be isolated from the airline logo, and both motif and stewardess can still be identified as symbols of Singapore Airlines, the brand has really succeeded in making its presence known in many forms.
" SIA Mobile Phone Strap Attached with the SIA Stewardess Doll and SIA plane, this is a fun souvenir to bring back from your travels! "
The sarong kebaya outfit was targeted at young girls, the silk scarves obviously for ladies, and now here is a mobile phone strap, suitable for all ages but most likely females in their 20s. This wide range of products can certainly reach various age groups, and even if they do not appeal to men, they may appeal to men thinking of buying souvenirs for their wives or children.
A Mattel Barbie doll released in 1991. Source: Sachama (January 26, 2005). Images retrieved on May 17, 2005 from "Barbie dolls: incomplete database by Poptarts": http://www.poptarts.net/barbie/article.php?id=1
Singapore Airlines Barbie Doll Mint in Box. Mattel. 11 inches tall. http://www.mygrannysatticantiques.com/html/singapore_airlines_barbie_doll.html
These are two slightly different versions of the Singapore Girl in Barbie form. Clearly, they are targeted at young girls like the sarong kebaya uniform above was. To want to role play and make believe that oneself might be the Singapore Girl again shows how much of an icon the Singapore Girl has become, and how even children are being influenced by the branding.
The uniform and Barbie both provide access to imaginary worlds based on experiences the children may have had on their flights. Role play with these items encourages reflection on the flight experience and the creation of further impressions and associations with SIA. Ironically, the young customer does all the creative brand building work him or herself through the play and can also influence her parents' and relatives' attidtudes towards SIA.
