A Kiwi selling an Oklahoma bank

It’s safe to say it’s not every day that New Zealanders see a commercial for an Oklahoma bank on their televisions, yet this week we did. News reports talked about an ad (video above) featuring Steven Adams, the 21 year old from Rotorua who now plays for the Oklahoma City Thunder NBA team.

The ad’s premise is “Speak Kiwi with Steven Adams”, and has Adams talking about the bank while subtitles are shown onscreen translating NZ slang into English Americans can understand. It’s a cute ad, playing off the “exoticness” of New Zealand and New Zealanders. Some of the text isn’t exactly what a Kiwi would say in real life, at least, not in that context, but they’re real expressions nonetheless. And, anyway, it's just a bit of fun—to sell a bank, of course.

There’s apparently a “Part 2” coming soon. I bet that it’ll be the second time we see a commercial for an Oklahoma bank on our TVs here in New Zealand…