Air NZ, Hell Pizza ads cash in on unruly tourists
The ‘‘unruly tourist’’ advertising continues.
Last week, Hell Pizza offered Aucklanders an ‘‘Unruly Tourist Pizza’’ with the warning it ‘‘may contain hair and ants’’.
Now, Air New Zealand’s Grabaseat has followed with ‘‘The Hasty Escape’’ sale, offering $149 deals with an image of a man clad in red shorts, and Takapuna Beach shown in the background.
The family of unruly British travellers have created a cultural moment in New Zealand, with widespread media coverage, memes and hand-wringing over whether the debate about their behaviour has gone too far.
Bodo Lang, head of marketing at the University of Auckland’s business school, said companies such as Hell Pizza and Air New Zealand were ‘‘aiming to be seen as current and relevant’’.
‘‘The reach will go well beyond traditional advertising methods.’’
Firms could get extra mileage as people shared the advertisements with their friends, he said.
‘‘Research has shown that things that generate positive emotions are more likely to go viral than things that generate negative emotions. People will have a little chuckle and share it on social media.’’
Hell Pizza and Air New Zealand could gain traction from being first off the mark with their advertising, Lang said, but one of the dangers was if the topic became dated.
‘‘Being first, people feel like it’s unique and funny. But if you are brand number 10 it looks like you are a copycat and slow off the mark. So there are risks,’’ he said.
Paul Catmur, founder of BC&F Dentsu, the advertising company behind the Hell Pizza billboard, said the ‘‘Unruly Tourist Pizza’’ billboard was in line with past advertising efforts.
‘‘Hell had been famous for doing ads that would comment on areas where people were upset but were not necessarily connected with food,’’ Catmur said.
He said the obvious crossover between Hell Pizza and this family was food so it made sense to ‘‘poke fun at it’’.
‘‘McDonalds, for example, wouldn’t want to tread that fine line between offence and poking fun,’’ he said.