Little ‘the regular guy’ a big star in ad
Labour has put leader Andrew Little front and centre of its first election campaign advertisement.
Deputy Jacinda Ardern appears in a couple of scenes in the oneminute-long TV advert but she is the only other MP to feature.
Most of the scenes are filmed in and around Wellington, close to Little’s Island Bay home.
It starts with Little saying the question he is often asked is ‘‘why do you want to be prime minister?’’ and includes shots of him with his family, walking their dog, Harry, and mentions him surviving cancer.
Party general secretary Andrew Kirton said voters wanted to know more about Little as ‘‘an alternative prime minister’’ who was new to the scene.
‘‘Unlike Bill English and Winston Peters, he hasn’t been a politician for 25 or 30 years.’’
He suggested the aim was to present someone who reflected voters’ own values.
‘‘He’s serious and cares deeply about issues facing New Zealand but he also plays Xbox with his son, Cam, goes kayaking, walks his dog with his wife, Leigh, every weekend. He’s a regular guy.’’
Kirton said it also touched on the main policies important to him. In the advert, Little promises ‘‘fresh thinking’’ to fix problems and it winds up with a plug for ‘‘Andrew Little and Labour – it’s time for a fresh approach for New Zealand’’.
Kirton said under election rules the adverts could not go on ‘‘terrestrial TV and radio’’ but would be used online on Youtube, Facebook, Stuff and NZME.
‘‘Even on-demand TV is allowed, because it’s not live.’’
But he said the jury was out on whether Labour would run any attack advertisements, which dominated the campaign for United States president last year.
He pointed to the National Party advertisement from 2014 with its ‘‘sting in the tail’’ portraying a confused and divided Opposition in a dinghy rowing in different directions.
‘‘If they come up with another lame sporting analogy then we might have to respond to that. But we’re also not here to eat our lunch, so we’ll see what we need to do.’’
For the record, Little is paddling his own single kayak in Labour’s new ad.