HONG KONG, CHINA - HONG KONG carrier Cathay Pacific on Tuesday hit back at criticism that its latest advertising campaign pandered to ethnic and gender stereotypes.

Cathay said accusations that its adverts only valued its male passengers and played to cliches of Asians serving western clients were 'misleading and unfair.'

'Cathay Pacific is accused of ethnic and gender stereotyping in our current advertising campaign to promote our new three-class cabin designs,' Carolyn Leung, Cathay's corporate communications manager, said in letter to the South China Morning Post.

'The reality is we have different versions of our print advertisements, using a representative selection of male and female passengers from a mixture of ethnic backgrounds.'

The ad campaign, which was launched on May 15, came under criticism from Post columnist Michael Chugani, who said the image of Asian women pampering a western male in first class, with a Chinese man in business class and a woman in economy, was outdated.

'You've got to hand it to Cathay Pacific - it really knows how to stereotype,' he wrote in May.

The English-language paper has also received letters accusing the ads of devaluing its female passengers.

'Aside from the connotations of two young, female stewardesses pandering to a male passenger, I wonder why the ad agency and Cathay assumed the only place for women on a place is in economy class or serving male passengers,' Alice Page wrote, adding she would now fly with Singapore Airlines. -- AFP