Be kind: How Jacinda Ardern's catchphrase spread from the Beehive to the living room and beyond

Reporter·NZ Herald·

3 Oct, 2020 04:00 PM13 mins to read

When the country went into level 4 lockdown, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern implored us to "be kind". Her message has spread. Photo / Getty Images

One day – possibly in just a few weeks' time - Jacinda Ardern won't be Prime Minister of New Zealand.

One day, too, Iain Taylor won't be principal of Manurewa Intermediate.

Different people will pace the top floor of the Beehive and the steady thrum of humanity coming from the south Auckland school Taylor leads will be formed by new voices.

School days are finite. Jobs too.

But some things are for life and that's what the kids at Manurewa Intermediate have been learning.

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Things like being part of a community, believing in self and thinking of the feelings of others.

"We often put different slogans about the place," Taylor says of staff efforts to "create a little paradise in our school.

"We say things like 'keep smiling', 'be a better human today than you were yesterday'."

This year, a new slogan appeared on the electronic notice board outside the school
gates on busy Russell Rd: "Always be kind!"

The "always" part is pure Manurewa Intermediate - at assemblies they like to say "all the time, every time", when talking about positive behaviour, Taylor says.

Pairing an old favourite with "be kind"? That's new.

But it's also not unfamiliar to the community, or the country.

"Correct," Taylor says when asked if the last two words on the electronic message board were inspired by one of the Labour leader's favourite catchphrases as Kiwis prepared for, and then slogged through, weeks of Covid-19 lockdown this year.

"We hadn't thought of using 'be kind' before, although being kind has been associated with our values we have in our school.

"It's just a way of uplifting our kids and our whānau in our community, I suppose."

Manurewa Intermediate is far from an outlier in picking up one of Ardern's favourite requests.

It'd take another lockdown to trawl through the Prime Minister's last three years of interviews, speeches and statements for any early directives to Kiwis to "be kind" but the catchphrase was impossible to miss when she announced the level 4 lockdown on March 23.

She said it twice.

"I have one final message," Ardern said, addressing the country from a Beehive Theatrerette lectern about measures that aimed to contain Covid-19 but which would also "cause unprecedented economic and social disruption".

She said: "Be kind … we will get through this together but only if we stick together, so please be strong and be kind."

Most of us spent the next five weeks, in some cases longer, within a few kilometres of home.

But words weren't contained by our lockdown.
"Be kind" travelled.

The zeitgeist

It popped up all over the place.

Supermarket chains, fending off the panic buying that was at its worst in the earliest days of the crisis, were early adopters.

"Shop normal and be kind, New Zealand," New World wrote in the subject line of an email sent to customers the evening of the Prime Minister's lockdown announcement.

Waka Kotahi loaded the catchphrase into variable electronic motorway signs and a July 18 press release from the national transport agency warning the public of a flood event also suggested how they should behave.

"We ask you to be kind and follow the instructions of the road crews to keep everybody safe."

A sign across the Northwestern Motorway in Auckland reads Be Kind Stay Calm. Photo / Alex Burton

On Auckland's Queen St, "be kind" was hashtagged on to an Auckland Transport parking sign, the same message fluttered in public settings on the Government's Unite Against Covid-19 flags, positioned below a black heart symbol.

When thousands of joyous fans packed Eden Park in June for the stadium's first Super Rugby Aotearoa match, a message on the big screen reminded them to "please be kind to all staff and patrons".

Some seized on both the catchphrase and the context it exists within, with AMI's
"Kindness is everything" ad campaign in May including "be kind" messages on a fence and in freshly fallen snow.

Kindness has been a core concept of the company since it was founded in 1926, with previous taglines relating to their intent to be helpful, the insurer's customer and consumer executive general manager Kevin Hughes says.

"It was a natural progression from those founding values to using the word 'kindness' over the past few years to talk about the intent with which we approach the work that we do," Hughes says, before citing the company's support this year of the Red Cross.

"While it wasn't the PM's use of it that led to our use of the term, certainly the beauty of the word 'kindness' is that it speaks to more than just what we as Kiwis do – kindness is about the intent behind the actions we take."

Super Rugby Aotearoa fans are reminded to "be kind" to staff and each other at the Blues v Hurricanes Eden Park opener on June 14. Photo / Cherie Howie

Actions taken was also on the mind of Trade Me bosses during lockdown, with the online auction website reminding users arriving on its homepage to "keep treating our team with the kindness us Kiwis are known for".

In August, after community transmission was again detected and fresh lockdowns imposed, Rotorua GP Cate Mills told the Bay of Plenty Times people needed to "get away from this culture of blame.

"We need to be kind and look after each other now."

Further south, Dr Paul Cooper, of Palmerston North-based not-for-profit health provider Think Hauora, shared a similar sentiment.

"Above all, be patient and be kind."

In the rural community, David Cotton had a message for fellow farmers, after a stressful time when lockdown, drought and limited meatworks' kill space saw pressure being transferred to livestock agents to quickly get stock off farms.

"My message is to remember to be kind to your agent," he told the Hawke's Bay Today.

#Be Kind message in Queen St, Auckland in June 2020. Photo / Cherie Howie

Sometimes, "be kind" was swapped out for its descendent, "stay kind", including, at times, by Ardern.

When heavy seas in early July prompted a warning to ocean-goers, Wellington Region Emergency Management Office tweeted that and a bit more.

"Conditions are expected to ease below warning criteria this Friday evening. Stay kind and cosy."

And Vodafone chimed in by changing its carrier name from "Vodafone Stay Safe" early in the lockdown to "Vodafone Stay Kind" later.

The move prompted a few complaints to their inbox, and on social media but most were positive, Vodafone spokeswoman Nicky Preston says.

"We weren't trying to be political. It was more picking up the zeitgeist of the country … we were reflecting what was being said."

Don't tell me what to do

We don't always cloak ourselves in the glory of selfless acts of kindness.

Auckland's return to level 3 lockdown in August sparked unpleasant scenes as some supermarket shoppers pushed and shouted their way inside.

And James Gordon likely has few warm fuzzies about the humanity he experienced during the level 4 lockdown, after thieves busted into his car at Omaha as he was staying with a friend, taking everything he owned - right down to a pair of dirty socks.

But Kiwis can be kind.

As the country shuddered under the threat of widespread community transmission in August, a couple who won $5 million in Lotto said they'd share half the prize with close family.

There was "no question" about divvying up the winnings, they said.

The couple were among 10 Lotto players nationally who split a record $50m draw, prompting one person to tweet that the result was "typical New Zealand".

"Even our Lotto is into kindness and shares $50m ten ways," user 2Tapu wrote on Twitter.

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Many more untold kindnesses no doubt fell under the radar.

Still, not everyone welcomes being told how they should behave.

"Yes, it's annoying," wrote spannerman5 when a Reddit poster asked if anyone else had noticed Vodafone's new carrier name during the Covid-19 crisis.

"Corporate bulls***."

User NZ Pure had an even more forthright message for the telco.

"Hey Vodafone - mind your own f***ing business."

For PR consultant Ben Thomas it was the "be kind" messages on motorway signs earlier this year which caught his eye.

The former National Government press secretary wasn't impressed.

"I thought it was imprudent in an election year for a Government agency to be combining its official messaging with what was essentially the Labour leader/Prime Minister's personal catchphrase, which pre-dated the Covid-19 crisis."

Some businesses are trying to align their brand with the words of a popular Prime Minister, PR consultant Ben Thomas says. Photo / File

Waka Kotahi is aligned with the All of Government Covid-19 unit, which has circulated approved messages throughout the response, an agency spokeswoman said.

This included the message "Be Kind, Stay Calm" on agency variable message signs during alert levels 3 and 4.

"As transport operations resumed and traffic volumes returned to normal, the Covid-19 messaging was phased out."

Private business, though, can do as it pleases, and it's a "huge vote of confidence in the Prime Minister and her brand" that some are leveraging off her "be kind" message, Thomas says.

"That's every politician's dream, that they have a message that's so successful. Normally politicians do it the other way round - they find something that's resonant in the public and they latch on to it and try to make it their message."

Businesses and organisations might say they're being good corporate citizens reinforcing Government messages during a crisis - but there are many ways to tell people to treat each other nicely.

The word "kind" only has resonance because of its association with Ardern, Thomas says.

"What [businesses are] actually trying to do is align their brand with an incredibly popular Prime Minister.

"That's pretty amazing - you never had corporations running around saying what [former Prime Minister] John Key said."

'You can't legislate against a virus'

Messaging can be a high-wire act. Come across as inauthentic and it'll blow right back in your face.

Ardern, given her previous calls for kindness in politics and internationally praised response to the Christchurch mosque shootings, was able when Covid-19 threatened to leverage off one of her greatest strengths - her ability to appeal to the better angels of our nature, Thomas says.

"Because that's actually what was needed at that time, that sense of solidarity … you can't just legislate against a virus. The success of the lockdown depended entirely on co-operation from the public.

"So it's no surprise that [stay home, save lives, be kind] is the line she took. And that led to this situation where the Prime Minister's personal brand became inextricably linked with the Government's response as a whole."

But Ardern might not want to roll out the kindness theme when it comes to policy, he says.

"Is putting benefits up $25 but ignoring the recommendations of the Welfare Advisory Group kind? A lot of anti-poverty campaigners would say, 'No.'

"It's easy to point out where there's a gap between the rhetoric of kindness and what the Government has actually done."

The Prime Minister didn't respond before the Herald on Sunday went to print on her thoughts about the spread of her "be kind" message and whether the catchphrase accurately reflects her Government's actions over the last three years.

A Keep Calm and Carry On poster reflects the World War II motto. Photo / File

It can be a swift journey from raised eyebrow at a statement to become grievance, especially when the public are already under strain.

Widely loved now, the Keep Calm and Carry on motivational poster produced by the British Government on the eve of World War II was almost entirely pulped before use after two sibling versions were launched first and, promptly, condemned.

Author Owen Hatherley told the Allusionist podcast people found the posters patronising and, because they were living through its hardships, didn't have the luxury of nostalgic feelings towards wartime.

Instead, the most popular Government WWII poster was much more empowering.

"Everyone loved "Go to it," Hatherley says.

"It usually had a picture of someone rolling up their sleeves."

Messages that promote engagement tend to appeal, University of Auckland political messaging expert Dr Edward Elder says, citing Labour's 2017 slogan of "Let's do this" and former US President Barack Obama's rallying cry of "Fired up! Ready to go!" as successful examples.

The use of inclusive words such as "us" and "we", famously with Obama's "Yes we can", are also often winners, while simple messages that play off a theme can work too - and that goes for both sides of the political divide.

"Last election [National's] 'Let's tax this' [ad campaign] really picked up momentum in the latter half of the campaign and influenced Labour Party policy."

University of Auckland's Dr Edward Elder is an expert in political marketing. Photo / Supplied

New Zealand's small size and population also helps - the "be kind" message wouldn't work as well in the US, for example, Elder says.

"The States is a lot more polarised country and the idea of local isn't as strong."

It's got eyeballs now but will the call to "be kind" be remembered when New Zealand one day moves on from Covid-19?

It depends whether people "try to forget the pandemic ever happened after it's over", Thomas, the PR consultant, says.

"I don't know. If there was a single phrase associated with the Prime Minister from the last three years, it would be that. She'll have to do pretty amazingly to get a better catchphrase over the next three years."

"Be kind" isn't "incredible oratory", Thomas says.

Its power lies in the fact "it's of a particular person in particular circumstances" - and those circumstances can change if the virus returns with a vengeance.

Obama's "Yes we can" doesn't have the same impact now given it stood for possibilities that, for many people, weren't delivered on, he says.

Whereas assassinated US President John F. Kennedy's "Ask not" call is untarnished because Kennedy was prevented from delivering on the possibilities he spoke of.

The dead can't disappoint us.

Taking us where we're already going

However history remembers Ardern's favoured catchphrase, it's our story too.

The most successful political messages play off feelings that are already in the community, Elder, the political messaging expert, says.

The National Party's infamous 1975 "Dancing Cossacks" ad, which suggested the Labour Government's new compulsory superannuation scheme might lead to Soviet-style communism, capitalised on an existing fear in the community.

"The best [most successful] messages may push people in a direction they were already predisposed to walk towards."

It's the same at Manurewa Intermediate, where the staff encourage the kids to stay the course in the direction they're already heading.

Their kids are great, Taylor, the principal, says.

"We talk about being proud … I went to Manurewa Intermediate myself. We talk about that stuff all the time, coming back to Manurewa and making it a better place."

It's holidays now but the kids will be back soon, walking past the sign reminding them to "Always be kind!" as they enter the school.