Dear John Oliver: Kiwis cry fowl over international interference in Bird of the Century marketing campaign

By RNZ

A neighborhood conservation advocate is crying fowl over international interference within the Bird of the Century marketing campaign.

RealNZ has lobbed the bombshell declare that British-American comic John Oliver’s heavyweight help for the pūteketeke is tantamount to Russia’s meddling within the 2016 United States presidential election.

RealNZ chief income officer Scott McNab mentioned it was not merely a case of being envious – not like RealNZ’s most popular hen, the kākāriki karaka.

Forest & Bird has upgraded its typical Bird of the Year contest to Bird of the Century to mark the organisation’s a hundredth birthday.

The contest bought a lift this week when Oliver devoted 13 minutes of his present Last Week Tonight to Bird of the Century and his help for the pūteketeke.

It was not the primary time the competition had been mired in controversy, with earlier scandals together with one thing akin to digital poll stuffing and a mammal profitable the prize for the primary time in 2021, due to the efforts of the long-tailed bat (and its on-line supporters).

But Oliver’s efforts have been an unprecedented effort to swing the outcomes, with promoting supportive of the pūteketeke displayed in New Zealand, Tokyo, Paris, London, Mumbai, New York, Rio De Janeiro and Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

“There are so many fun facts about it, like the fact that they are known for carrying their babies on their backs … which is adorable,” Oliver mentioned, in help of the mulleted diving hen.

“Both parents will incubate the eggs and tend to the chicks – they give each other space to co-parent. They don’t stifle each other.

“And you want elegance? I’ll give you some elegance – they have a mating dance where they both grab a clump of wet grass and chest bump each other before standing around unsure of what to do next. I have never identified with anything more in my f***ing life.”

While the outrageous help marketing campaign had ruffled the feathers of some, Forest and Bird chief govt Nicola Toki advised RNZ’s Morning Report she was unperturbed by Oliver’s try at fixing the vote.

Thousands and hundreds of votes got here in after the episode aired, she mentioned.

But the vote-rigging was not surprising, because the crew behind Oliver’s present bought in contact earlier this 12 months.

“They were keen to be involved and we said, ‘Go for it’.”

But McNab and the crew at RealNZ have been much less happy and have been now sending one thing of a Dear John Letter to Oliver.

“What we saw from Mr Oliver reminded us a little bit of how the Russians interfered in US election previously,” he mentioned.

“It didn’t feel quite right to us, so we decided we would do our best to give the kākāriki karaka a chance to win.”

That had meant native billboards to return an area voice to the marketing campaign.

But McNab admitted to not being above the identical nefarious loophole Oliver had recognized and the tourism firm can be tapping into its world database and social media to recruit help from overseas.

The actual key, nonetheless, was Aotearoa.

“Our belief is that while he might be going global, if we can influence passionate New Zealanders, hopefully we can show that Kiwis still have global power and can deliver a great outcome just by getting New Zealanders heavily behind it,” he mentioned.

RealNZ had lengthy been a supporter of the little inexperienced parrot.

“We are huge believers in this species. We’ve just raised $175,000 for it and we think it’s a pretty special parrot, and with only 350 left in New Zealand we think we need to raise awareness of it.”

That help included an effort at the side of the Department of Conservation and Ngāi Tahu to aim to translocate kākāriki karaka again into Fiordland.

McNab accepted they have been going through an uphill battle, however so have been kākāriki karaka within the wild.

“We’ve always believed in the plucky underdog and New Zealanders at their core believe the underdog can stand up and defeat the bigger nations, and so we are hoping this is another example of that.”

While RealNZ hoped to rally help for its hen on the home stretch of the marketing campaign, the true win can be long run, McNab mentioned.

“Long-term for us it’s more about the conservation piece and the more awareness we can raise, the better. As we look to start the translocation project, that’s actually more important for us than delivering this result in the short-term.”

Voting for Bird of the Century closes this Sunday.