Austrian army 'sexist' tank commercial

I'm not exactly booking a trip to Austria.... if that's all they could round up for babes.

The Austrian army has seen a sharp fall in young men enlisting in recent years, and the video is clearly designed to appeal to a youthful population.
The video opens on a countryside scene, in which a macho-looking man offers four young women a spin in his sports car. The women seem ready to agree, but suddenly a tank comes to a screeching halt in front of the car.

A young soldier pops out of the top of the Leopard 2A4 tank, rubs his hand suggestively along the barrel of hte cannon, and calls: "Do you want a joy ride ladies?"

The women, who are shot from many angles in their revealing clothes, quickly leave the would-be Romeo alone with his sports car and chase after the tank.

To that end, the pun in the young soldier's question was "fully intended", an army spokesman admitted.

"Our clip is so dorky it's brilliant," said Col Johann Millonig, from the army's marketing department.

But the fine line between sexy and sexist was crossed, according to feminists, who heaped so much scorn on the Austrian high command that the advert was dropped.

"The video is trashy and an embarrassment," said Judith Goetz, who is in charge of feminist issues at the Austrian Students' Union.

"It is totally archaic to show such an obviously sexist video at a time when women are already part of the Austrian military."