Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, its 999 nudes

999 naked members of the public gathered at London’s Jubilee Gardens last week to launch Aer Lingus’ £9.99 - No Hidden Extra’s - fare from Gatwick. The 999 Nudes swapped their day wear for skimpy Shamrock bikini’s – symbolic with St Patrick’s Day just around the corner.

The 999 assembled at Albert Embankment and marched along the South Bank until they reached the Jubilee Gardens where hundreds of site-seers turned their attention away from the likes of Big Ben and watched in amusement as the 999 Nudes enjoyed the early spring London sunshine.

The 999 Nudes were recruited via a social media campaign, using popular online community sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Over 2,000 people registered, with 999 places offered on a first come basis. In return for taking part, the 999 Nudes received two free return flights to one of the eight new European destinations from Gatwick, such as Vienna and Munich.

Nudes of all shapes and ages took part in the event, which even included several over sixties stripping off for their free flights. The crowd consisted of around 500 men and 500 women – not surprisingly, it was the men who were first to strip off.

Aer Lingus Corporate Affairs Director, Enda Corneille, comments: “We had a police visit this morning where we were warned that if any of the participants were completely nude, they would be liable to a fine for ‘indecent exposure’. However, once out of site of the cautious police, many of the participants ignored police warnings and stripped off for the bewildered, but eager, on-looking crowds, who captured the event on their camera phones.

“We have had such a great reaction to today’s stunt both from our volunteers and from the general public, that I’m confident we will get the £9.99 message across - It’s a fantastic offer. We launch on April 6th but after today, people are going to know a lot more about who Aer Lingus are.”