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Nepal Airlines Officials Sacrifice Goats to Appease Sky Gods
The driving forces behind Nepal's national state-run airline have found a novel way to fix a technical problem with their airplanes -- they've sacrificed goats to appeal to the Hindu 'sky god', Akash Bhairab. Sacrificing animals is an ancient tradition that seems to have resisted modern logic, at least in some part of Asia, and in this case, the practice was used to fix and electrical problem in a Boeing 757. And it might sound like a strange way to fix a mechanical issue, but here's what's even stranger: it worked. Still, the whole idea of sacrificing goats to appease the sky gods doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in skeptics like myself. Luckily, I don't think I'll be taking Nepal Airlines anytime soon.
Filed under: Airlines
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jonathan Salem Baskin Sep 14th 2007 10:45AM
I think you're right, speaking as a fellow traveler. But as a branding person, I'm intrigued by the how and why of it all. There may well be something marketers in the West can learn from it...and it has to do with illustrating the differences between 'saying' things about brand, and 'doing' things for it. Anyway, I've written about it a bit today on DIM BULB, if you'd like to check it out. http://dimbulb.typepad.com