Eh! Campaign hand-signs deliver a surprise wallop

By JO-MARIE BROWN

It seemed like such a good idea - a new marketing campaign for Auckland complete with catchy hand-signals to sell the city.

But it began to unravel yesterday as people pointed out that the innocuous-looking A signals had been used before and not in ways contemplated by the advertising gurus.

Feminists pointed out that a hand-signal pictured in yesterday's Herald was a long-standing one for women, or more explicitly, vagina.

Other people said the second signal was remarkably close to the sign-language symbol for Aids.

Saatchi & Saatchi managing director Mike Hutcheson was pictured demonstrating the A-shaped signals that he said people spontaneously made when a promotional video was shot.

One involves forming a triangle by pressing your thumbs together and pointing fingers upwards to form a point.

Hero Trust chairwoman Anne Speir confirmed yesterday that the signal was internationally recognised as meaning vagina.

"Some also use it for lesbian but that's not the most common one. Obviously [Saatchi & Saatchi] haven't done their research.

"It has been used by feminists since I first became involved, and that was in 1977."

A Deaf Association of New Zealand spokeswoman confirmed that the other signal - an A shape using three fingers - closely resembled the deaf sign for the Aids disease.

Mr Hutcheson said yesterday that the signals were not officially part of the promotional campaign.

"We went around filming people and said, 'What do you think about it?' and they said, 'Auckland A,' and started spontaneously making symbols with their arms and hands.

Mr Hutcheson instead blamed the Herald's picture for causing the fuss. The photo that could be mistaken for the vagina signal had been too closely cropped, he said.

The symbol he intended to make involved his arms being extended outwards and the thumbs forming the letter A's crossbar.

Mr Hutcheson said he was not aware of any alternative meanings. "I'm just stunned and amazed by some of the comments."