Famous names

The video above is an ad for a New Zealand mobile phone company (the 30-second version is below). The ad also shows a side of the New Zealand psyche, how Kiwi personal humour works, which is reason enough to share it.

While the basic concept of the ad isn’t particularly new or unique, its delivery practically swims in a Kiwi sense humour: Dry, understated, taking the piss out of ourselves. That’s the sort of thing that really appeals to me, however, that wasn’t my initial reaction.

When the ad first started running earlier this month, I thought to myself, “what the…?” Sometimes it takes me a couple viewings to really get an ad, and sometimes I’ll see things I missed at first. In this case, there’s not exactly anything to miss, really, but it definitely grew on me over time, which is good: It’s running quite often. It hasn’t made me switch to their company, though.

Still, it’s just an ad, it’s well done, and a it’s a glimpse of how Kiwi personal humour works. This time, that’s enough.