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Blurring the Lines, Fantasy is Reality in NZ
Mount Doom from Wikipedia
Tourism New Zealand is poised to ensure that New Zealand cashes in on the forthcoming Hobbit film release.
After the surge in interest generated by the Lord of the Rings films (coming conveniently soon after the September 11 attacks in the US and Helen Clark cashing in by declaring New Zealand a “safe haven”) New Zealand will be sure to want pull as many golden eggs as possible from out of the Hobbit’s only goose.
It has a lot of money staked in the middle earth venture. Millions of dollars of assistance were given to the film studio and New Zealand sold out its employment law to the studio system to ensure that crucial filming remained in New Zealand (read The Hobbit – it was all about the dollars) If you thought this film was about Hobbits Elves and Dwarfs think again, New Zealand has unashamedly ensured it itself is the star and taking centre stage.
“In November 2012, New Zealand’s stunning landscapes will be centre stage for movie lovers world-wide with the première of ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’. New Zealand.com
However The Hobbit is a kids story book, are children going to be that impressed by sweeping panoramas and brooding mountain shots even if they are in 3D?
Let’s hope that the adult audience isn’t too taken in by scenery that could be found in most continents on the planet. A few good mountain shots and some green grass doesn’t make New Zealand a good place to emigrate to as the members of the ExpatExposed forum and our Migrants Tales authors will attest. Many migrants find the country backward, cold and intolerant of outsiders.
“New Zealand prides itself on being a friendly, easygoing country, yet for some immigrants and many refugees this green and pleasant land is a toxic environment where they become socially isolated, culturally adrift, wracked by loneliness and homesickness, racially abused and discriminated against by employers...” The Unfriendly Isles - NZ Listener magazine.
Read our Welcome Page to find out how New Zealand’s image has been managed right from the start to attract people.
Migrate if you have no other option but remember there is a big difference between fantasy and reality, a pleasant (but expensive and distant) holiday destination may not be suitable as as long term life choice. For every Mount Doom there is a real life Mount Tongariro waiting to erupt.
In a press release issued on Thursday 9 August Tourism NZ said
With just three months to go until the world premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in Wellington, Tourism New Zealand has been working to ensure New Zealand benefits from the increase in international attention.
A creative theme for all activity, Fantasy is Reality has been confirmed to ensure there is a strong connection between the films and New Zealand. Key international media and opinion leader targets have been identified. Advertising schedules are locked in. Broadcast footage, captured.
“One of our most exciting milestones will be reached in late August when the new 100% Pure New Zealand campaign will get its first public airing, drawing together the themes ’100% Pure’ and ’100% Middle Earth‘” says Chief Executive Kevin Bowler.
“Our new advertisement will be placed on TV, cinema and on-line, and new pages and imagery will go live on newzealand.com.“This will be the first screening of the latest evolution of the 100% Pure New Zealand campaign and we are pretty excited about it,” he says.
Tourism New Zealand is already well underway with its activity to convert the international attention New Zealand will draw from the movies, into travel.
Kevin says, “International media attention surrounding the films has been growing over the past few months and we have already hosted a number of journalists who are writing specifically about New Zealand as the location for the films.
“We have Hobbit-specific pages on our corporate website, and images on our image library, providing a hub for all the news and information people may need.
“Consumers visiting newzealand.com will already find a “Home of Middle-earth” section offering a range of experiences and products that are based around the filming of The Lord of the Rings.
“We were also thrilled to be a part of the Weta booth at Comic Con in the middle of July, working alongside Air New Zealand, Hobbiton and Film New Zealand to promote New Zealand, to those who attended the exhibition.”
Comic Con is now regarded as the largest comic book and popular arts convention in the world with around 130,000 people attending.
“As we work to leverage The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back again, we will connect the landscapes of Middle-earth with the experiences of New Zealand.
“Through our marketing activity we will show how easy it is to come here, see Middle-earth first-hand, and enjoy all the exciting and fun experiences New Zealand has to offer,” he says.”
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BBC Questions New Zealand’s 100% Pure Image
New Zealand’s economically valuable “100% Pure” brand has been questioned in international media due to the pollution of our rivers and lakes, the Green Party said today.
“We must get real about cleaning up our rivers and lakes, because the world is beginning to realise that we aren’t living up to our clean green image,” said Dr Norman.
Dr Norman was responding to John Key’s interview yesterday on BBC News HARDtalk. During the interview (see video above) host Stephen Sackur commented that New Zealand is clearly not 100% Pure and cited that half of New Zealand lakes and 90% of our lowland rivers are classed as polluted… read on
For more about the 100% Pure myth click here
Overseas Journalists Labelled “Whingers”
Colonial journalists have been labelled Whingers by a NZ Herald columnist Dylan Weaver in his World Cup Weekend Wrap
Among the brickbats and bouquets was a special mention for those jumped-up journos who dared to ignore the mysterious “lecture from high on how to portray the country in a positive light” no doubt risking their corporate hospitality vouchers, Queenstown adventure tourism packages and other little incentives by not keeping their reporting on-message.
This is what those at Expatexposed.com refer to as the Positive Police, and it’s easy to see where they get the phrase from.
Weaver quipped
Whingers
“After being lectured from on high about how to behave to portray the country in a positive light, it turns out a minority of our past colonial masters are kindly giving us a demonstration on how obnoxiousness can reflect poorly on the nation you represent. Very kind of them. Whinging about anything and everything from the exchange rate (sorry), the prices (really sorry), the stadiums (again, sorry), the beer (so, so sorry).
A colleague overheard a British journalist berating a stadium official in Dunedin on Saturday night when he was merely trying to explain to him that the English players would be going to one end of the mixed zone to do interviews, the Argentines the other. “Christ, can’t this country get anything right,” came the reply.
Honestly, after the hardship some of these guys are going through, they’ll fully deserve that holiday in Skegness.”
But at least it’s safer that river-boarding in Queenstown, or daring to ask those difficult questions when others stand by and clap politely.
Now you know why there is no program of the calibre of BBC’s Hardtalk in New Zealand: far to too much Positivetalk.
You may also be interested in: our posts about the Hardtalk interview with John Key and our Adventure tourism and safety facts and stats page.
New Zealanders Have Their Say On Key’s Hardtalk Interview
John Key Appeared on the BBC's Hardtalk
The BBC’s Hardtalk interview with John Key certainly caused great interest around the world, the video becoming the second most popular on the BBC’s website. Read our blog about it and watch the videos here
Here’s what New Zealanders have been saying about it
Zorr (The Standard.org.nz)
Finally, an interview where some truly difficult points were forced. Made John Key look like a complete amateur and, despite some notable occasions, Stephen Sackeur is a wonderful interviewer who does his research.The only question left to ask is this: wtf was John Key thinking accepting an interview from the one place that was going to truly sock it to him?
Stephen regularly makes the world’s most powerful people cringe in their chairs and only a few have truly stood their ground and fought with him – he always has an army of facts for any interview he does and isn’t afraid to follow up the 1st punch with a 2nd and 3rd…
Eddie (The Standard.org.nz)
god, he gets tetchy after a couple of questions… and then it gets worse.
“we’re 100% pure, relative to other countries”
and when he asks Key if he’s happy to have china owning Kiwi farmland
“well, we’re happy to have them as a major trading partner”
“that’s not what I asked you, is it?”
is there a link to the full interview?
Newsman ( NZ general Google Groups )
The interview is instructive in more ways than one. Good to have it archived in toto on the HDD.
New Zealanders will be overjoyed to know the entire BBC World audience has had an opportunity to discover and assess the calibre and character of the slither-tongued man who now runs the show here.
As is his habit, the thoroughly researched Sackur expertly conducted John Key through major New Zealand topics and issues, the responses to most of which Sackur received with a wholesome skepticism matching to perfection the style and substance of what came back at him.
As an example of the general tone Key brought to the broadcast, and for a revealing study of an inept New Zealand prime minister regaling his worldwide audience by gratuitously disavowing one of his own country’s top scientists, try this excerpt: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/9480610.stm
(Note John Key’s embarrassed smirk the moment Sackur introduces the “100% Pure” topic)
Unsurprisingly, while the cattle-class NZ media went ape over John Key’s lame sidekick spot on the insubstantial Letterman a while back, this time they have been mute when it came to the potential gravitas of his one big chance: a long-form 25-minute encounter with the redoubtable Sackur on a universally accessible worldwide network.
I think most of us know this myth is a load of bollocks. The only factor that makes NZ apparently green is the incredible low population factor. It has a tiny population in regard to its land mass. Alas our rivers and lakes are terribly polluted and we have more coal than we can eat so that will be all dug up sold & exported or burned here. Many kiwi knobbers see it fit to drive huge 4 and 5 litre penis extenders and those that don’t push their cars to such limits speed wise they too are gas guzzlers. This is not a hit on Nz this is just how I see things and having been here 6 years I have seen a lot.
Mummybot (The Standard.org.nz)
Key’s answers were very telling taking on two flavours. The first was a typical denialist attack – discredit the source by saying it was that scientist’s ‘opinion’ and that he could find other opinions to refute it. His second type of reply was that there wasn’t an issue just ‘look out the window’ at the natural beauty.The first is disingenuous, the second is quite scary if that is his yardstick for conservation. It implies that so long as the green veneer is there then he is happy to sell the 100% NZ brand regardless of any environmental crises going on behind.
Easyway (Trademe)
The interviewer ripped into Key for his propaganda, spin, BS and incompetency.
No wonder Key is now scared of going in front of any host that might question him too hard and expose his ineptness. Wonder when he will front up in front of Mr John Campbell!
Proud Greenie (Yahoo NZ news)
So he’s admitting the damage caused by dairying while at the same time putting policies in place that encourage an increase in cow numbers? Hopefully international pressure can make this government red-faced enough to start taking action to preserve our reputation, if it’s not already beyond repair.
Iracisble (The Standard.org.nz)
The HardTalk interview has probably done more to boost Goff & Labour’s chances in the November election than any other media event in the past 2 & half years. My friends , scattered across the world wherever HardTalk screened, have all expressed a collective cringe at seeing such a pitiful performance from a NZ PM.
Key’s performance was one that demonstrated what quality interviewing is all about… the interviewer allowing the interviewee to put his own foot in his mouth and then gently probing so that the foot goes even deeper into the speaker’s throat.
There was no excuse for Key being so uninformed, so ignorant and so shallow apart from his own arrogant belief in his PR creation.
Peter S (The Dim Post)
Key must really appreciate (as PM and Minister for Tourism) at being dropped in the proverbial by over zealous admen. The 100% pure slogan is b/s and always has been. Perhaps being directly challenged by a BBC interviewer in one of NZ’s most important tourist markets will get him and the Govt. of their bums to actually do something about the uncontrolled pollution of rivers by dairy farmers.
BBC Questions New Zealand’s 100% Pure Image
Both Mike Joy and the NZ Green Party have questioned John Key’s position on New Zealand’s 100% Pure branding.
Joy has challenged John Key to prove that New Zealand is 100% Pure.
.
New Zealand’s economically valuable “100% Pure” brand has been questioned in international media due to the pollution of our rivers and lakes, the Green Party said today.
“We must get real about cleaning up our rivers and lakes, because the world is beginning to realise that we aren’t living up to our clean green image,” said Dr Norman.
Dr Norman was responding to John Key’s interview yesterday on BBC News HARDtalk. During the interview (see video above) host Stephen Sackur commented that New Zealand is clearly not 100% Pure and cited that half of New Zealand lakes and 90% of our lowland rivers are classed as polluted.
“The clean green New Zealand brand is worth $18.4 billion, but this asset is at risk unless we take immediate action to restore our waterways.
“To be effective in the long-term, our brand must reflect reality,” said Dr Norman.
“The draft NPS required land owners to obtain a resource consent for land use intensification, but the Government bowed to polluter pressure and removed this requirement in the final version released yesterday.
“Nearly every report on water quality in New Zealand has identified land use intensification as the main cause of water quality decline in New Zealand, yet the Government has chosen not to regulate intensification.
“This decision will come back to haunt us. If we trash the environment we will trash our reputation and it will damage us economically sooner or later,” said Dr Norman.
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This video
BBC Hardtalk Roasts Key On 100% Pure Image – Update: Video
BBC Hardtalk’s Stephen Sackur roasted John Key over New Zealand’s 100% Pure brand image in a recent televised interview.
Most of us know that NZ 100% Pure is only an advertising slogan and that it has been dropped from the country’s marketing in favour of the 100% Pure You brand, but it is interesting nevertheless to watch the PM putting on his Minister of Tourism Hat and trying to defend the indefensible and outdated, much to Sackur’s amusement.
Watch an excerpt from the interview on the BBC’s website here and read what Kiwis think about it on Google groups and on Trademe
Update: The full interview has been posted on YouTube by aidanleenz.
Sackur called Key “the most inexperienced PM in New Zealand’s history ” who’d “never run a city let alone a ministerial department”
and asked why Key was telling the country’s young people to stay and make New Zealand great when he himself made his fortune working in London.
On Chinese investment in dairy farms, the relationship with the USA, Anti-nuclear status, Wikileaks, colonial history, the future of the Monarchy, Royal wedding etc:
There is an absolute wealth of data demonstrating that New Zealand is not 100% Pure. Key’s attempt to dismiss data as the ‘opinion’ of one highly regarded NZ academic, Mike Joy, comes across as avoiding the issue for the sake of the cameras, instead of seizing the opportunity to admit there is a problem that his government is taking very seriously.
Update: John Key was then roasted in Parliament over the interview, when he admitted he “couldn’t remember” what he said on BBC Hardtalk because he hadn’t watched it yet and that “one needs to balance the environment with the economy“.
But if NZ is 100% Pure doesn’t that mean the environment has to take priority 100%?
“NZ 50/50 Pure as long as the economy doesn’t suffer and the farmers are happy” doesn’t have the same nation branding advertising pull does it.
Key has come a long way since his “loosest slot machines in the Pacific Rim” stumbles but still has some way to go. Watch the Parliamentary roasting here. You may also like to read Pure Nonsense, by Brian Turner in the May 2010 NZ Listener magazine, excerpt:
New Zealand is definitely clean and green. Yeah, right.
“I wonder how many of us are sick of the extent to which New Zealanders delude themselves, and are willing to believe many of the most outrageous lies they are told. Like, for instance, this is a “clean and green” country, a place that is “pure” and often “pristine”…”
Back to the Hardtalk interview. Sackur quotes Mike Joy as saying
“We are delusional about how clean and green we are”
And you can see how he arrives at that conclusion.
For data about NZ’s pollution, its use of a wide range of pesticides and herbicides, and the country’s planned exploitation of fossil fuels please visit our Greenwash NZ page, here’s the first section from it.
Migrant Tales
1080 Poison, 100% Pure?
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