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Surely, you can’t be serious.

But Wisconsin is serious (and don’t call them “Shirley”) about their new tourism campaign, which features Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Robert Hays reprising their “Airplane!” roles as Roger Murdock and Ted Striker in a series of clips promoting tourism to the Badger State.

The first of the three ads debuted earlier this month, with Hays and Abdul-Jabbar highlighting Wisconsin’s summer offerings and slinging plenty of “Airplane!” references. Even the inflatable pilot, “Otto,” makes a cameo.

There are plenty of Wisconsin roots among the crew. Abdul-Jabbar played for the Milwaukee Bucks for six years, while directors and writers Jerry Zucker, David Zucker and Jim Abrahams (who also wrote and directed the original “Airplane!”) are all Wisconsin natives.

The two yet-to-be-released ads will focus on fall and winter. Check out what the “Airplane!” stars think of Wisconsin’s summers below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShrV43xB6yY

(Main image: mrenner34)

About the author

Marissa WillmanMarissa Willman earned a bachelor's degree in journalism before downsizing her life into two suitcases for a teaching gig in South Korea. Seoul was her home base for two years of wanderlusting throughout six countries in Asia. In 2011, Marissa swapped teaching for travel writing and now calls Southern California home.

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