Tui ‘yeah right’ billboard referencing Philip Polkinghorne falls flat with social media users

A Tui billboard referencing Philip Polkinghorne, the retired eye surgeon acquitted of murdering his wife, has been slammed as being in bad taste and disrespectful.

The New Zealand brewery has reintroduced its controversial billboards after nearly a decade. They were first introduced in 1997 and featured a simple black, white and orange design, with a topical one-liner that ranged from provocative to playful. On the right was the “Yeah right” response that became the brand’s catchphrase.

A new billboard that has sparked backlash reads: “Back to being a respectable meth smoking, sex worker loving doctor then. Yeah right.”

Some users of the social media platform Reddit questioned whether an image of the billboard posted to the site was legitimate or doctored.

DB Breweries’ public relations company, Special PR, confirmed to the Herald that the billboard had been placed around the country over the weekend.

DB Breweries’ public relations company, Special PR, confirmed to the Herald that the billboard had been placed around the country over the weekend.

Other social media users said the advertisement was inappropriate.

“A bit too personal for my taste,” one user said.

“I don’t find any of these particularly interesting or edgy,” read another comment about the ad.

“Not funny. A woman died,” another user commented.

Polkinghorne, 71, was acquitted last month of murdering his wife, Pauline Hanna. The jury’s ruling came after an eight-week trial in the High Court at Auckland.

Hanna, a Counties-Manukau Health procurement executive, 63, was found dead in their Remuera mansion, on Easter Monday, 2021.

The trial heard evidence from the Crown that Polkinghorne was leading a double life, spending nearly $300,000 on sex workers including his former mistress Madison Ashton, and using methamphetamine.

Philip Polkinghorne leaves the High Court at Auckland with his sister Ruth Hughes last month after he was found not guilty of murdering his wife, Pauline Hanna. Photo / Dean Purcell

On the first day of the trial the retired eye surgeon pleaded guilty to methamphetamine charges relating to 37.7 grams of meth seized by police from his Upland Rd Remuera house and a P pipe found under his bed.

In a statement explaining the campaign, Tui’s Fraser Shrimpton said; “We’re living in a world where everyone has an opinion about everything, all the time. There’s no avoiding feedback, so we’ve decided, as a brand, we’re not afraid to say what we’ve all been thinking.

“The billboards are our way of connecting with Kiwis, aiming to help them lighten up and have a laugh.”

Radio Hauraki host and actor Mike Minogue, the face of the revitalised campaign, last week said he “looks forward to hearing the Karens and Daves of New Zealand tear up the feedback line”.

Another example of the Tui billboards rolled out on Saturday takes a crack at Celebrity Treasure Island contestants.

A new 24/7 feedback line was also introduced, allowing members of the public to voice their thoughts, feelings and concerns about the revamped campaign and its messaging – which DB Breweries believes will still provoke a strong response from Kiwis.

The billboards were a mainstay of New Zealand roadside advertising from the late 1990s to the mid-2010s.

“Tui had the magic formula: simple, cheeky, and bang on with what Kiwis found funny,” AUT communication studies lecturer Daniel Fastnedge told the Herald.

“While there were complaints, most Kiwis loved it – those billboards became part of our cultural fabric.”

A new 24/7 feedback line was also introduced, allowing members of the public to voice their thoughts about the revamped campaign- which DB Breweries believes will still provoke a strong response from Kiwis.

By 2016, however, “Yeah right” was officially a “yeah na” (despite Tui’s assertions two years before that the billboards were here to stay), with a DB Breweries’ spokesperson telling media the billboards had been phased out to meet the evolving “taste preferences” of consumers.

In a report to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the mid-2000s, DB Breweries insisted its messages were generally intelligent and irreverent, drawing on topical issues in the public eye. Tui’s former brand manager, Nick Rogers, told the Herald in 2004 that the billboards were “cynical in a humorous way”, attributing the campaign’s success to its simplicity. “It puts a smile on people’s faces,” he said at the time. “I wouldn’t say they were negative.”

However, many Kiwis didn’t agree.

In 2004, the ASA upheld complaints against a billboard that read, “There’s nothing wrong with Miriam. Yeah right.” The advertisement referenced the reality TV show There’s Something About Miriam, in which six bachelors competed for the affections of Mexican-born TV personality Miriam Rivera – but weren’t told she was transgender.

The Advertising Standards Complaints Board ruled the billboard was seriously offensive, ridiculed transgender people and contradicted basic human rights.

In 2008, Tui’s “Let’s take a moment this Christmas to think about Christ. Yeah right” billboard was the most complained about advertisement that year, according to an ASA report at the time. The billboard amassed 86 complaints, many of which claimed the tagline was offensive to Christians, as was the link between alcohol and religion. The ad was withdrawn by DB Breweries after the backlash.

In 2016, the year “Yeah right” was officially phased out, Tui announced it was scaling back its brewery operation at Mangatainoka, with much of production shifting to Auckland and Timaru.

Tui made headlines this year when it confirmed it was no longer producing beer at Mangatainoka after more than 130 years of operating.

The return of the “Yeah right” campaign, however, suggests not everything will be consigned to history.

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