It’s different here

The video above is an ad for an alcohol drink. Many countries have those, but this ad shows a lot about what’s different about New Zealand, and they’re things that I love about this country.

The ad is for Old Mout Hard Cider, which, the ads tells us, is made from Braeburn apples. It also plays on the standard ad devices of an all-knowing voiceover. But it’s the sexual innuendo that makes it truly Kiwi.

Cider in New Zealand is actually quite nice. The fact that this ad promotes the fact that this cider is “not too sweet” underscores a prejudice people have about ciders. In fact, they’re quite varied, and not all are made from apples (I have had an Old Mout one that was not made just from apples, and it was quite nice).

Alcohol advertising can only be shown on television relatively late at night (it might be 8:30pm or 9:30pm, I forget and can’t be bothered looking it up). So, this ad—which aired tonight, as it has for months—is rarely seen. That means ads like this have to be punchier and maybe edgier than normal advertising. Most alcohol advertising in New Zealand is similarly edgy, but not all work as well.

There’s a move to ban all alcohol advertising from TV, apparently because advocates think it will magically cure New Zealand’s problem with excess drinking. As if. People will drink regardless, and some will drink to excess and be messy in public because of that. I’ve seen no credible evidence that advertising affects that in any specific way, so the move to ban it sounds to me like typical “we know what’s best for you” wowserism. My stand is as it always is: Show me the proof of causality.

Me, I’m a fan of good advertising, and of alcohol, and when the two mix, all the better, as far as I’m concerned.

In any case, this ad is very New Zealand.