Now the Cebu Pacific Male air crew dances through the safety demo

The male flight attendants performed their demonstration to passengers

The first version of the dancing air crew safety demonstration looked like a fancy-dress pole dance without the poles.

Now the Philippines budget airline Cebu Pacific has introduced male air stewards to do the dancing demo.

Complaints of sexism had been lodged after the female air crew performance.

The airline's novel approach to grabbing the passengers' attention for the oft-ignored safety demonstration appears to have worked.

The films made of the dancing demo have become a YouTube sensation.

Publicity stunt

Cebu Pacific has also successfully drawn attention to its services around the Asia-Pacific region ahead of a planned stock exchange offering on 12 October.

The trick began earlier in the week when pretty, young female air crew performed the air safety demonstration as part of a dance routine involving a Lady Gaga tune.

Dancing air crew have helped draw attention to Cebu Pacific's forthcoming stock offer

The women's political party Gabriela said the routine was "a cheap promotional gimmick" and branded the airline "a purveyor of sexism and machismo".

By Friday, a second version featured male crew dancing to the 1980 Men Without Hats hit Safety Dance, which seemed be appreciated by female passengers at least.

"It was OK, they managed to stop me nodding off," mother-of-two Carol Ignacio told AFP.

The air crew mixed in dance moves with instructions about how to don lifejackets, use air masks and find the emergency exits.

The female crew's dance, filmed by a passenger earlier in the week, had more than seven million hits on YouTube by Friday.

Cebu Pacific vice-president for marketing Candice Iyog insisted the airline crews were having fun doing the dance routines.

Observers have linked the effort to enliven the safety demonstration to that made by Air New Zealand - a video featuring nude air crew in startlingly realistic body paint.

Cebu Air Inc, which owns Cebu Pacific, is hoping to raise at least $538m (£338m) in Philippines' largest flotation next week, as part of plans to buy more planes to compete with Singapore's Tiger Airways and Malaysia's Air Asia.

It balances its no-frills approach to flying - no meals, blankets or meals on board - with live entertainment including mid-air games such as name-that-tune and scavenger hunts.

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