Welsh whisky brand promoting Wales as 'New Zealand of the North'

An ad campaign claims Wales as the "New Zealand of the North". Photo / Facebook

A Welsh distillery has found an unusual - and arguably risky - way to promote its whisky in New Zealand by advertising Wales as the "New Zealand of the North".

Kiwis on social media spotted the ad campaign which promotes Wales as being "just like New Zealand, only we're 100% open", in what can be read as a stab at Aotearoa's pandemic border restrictions.

The ad that has been popping up for Kiwi Facebook users is not, in fact, Wales' latest tourism promo, but is actually part of a campaign by Penderyn Distillery, which sells its Welsh single malt whiskies in New Zealand.

Shots fired pic.twitter.com/6eBdg68n2b

— Shannon Leary (@learysp) March 25, 2022

A series of posts on the "New Zealand of the North" Facebook page take aim at New Zealand as a tourism destination, as well as our rugby team and even New Zealand lamb.

"Just like New Zealand. Only we're 100 per cent open," one of the advertisements for Penderyn Distillery declared.

From majestic mountains to tranquil lakes, to deserted beaches, Wales is up there with the most beautiful places on the...

Posted by New Zealand of the North on Saturday, March 19, 2022

Luckily for Penderyn, Kiwis have seen the funny side of the tongue-in-cheek ad campaign and responded with quintessential Kiwi friendliness and good humour.

Flight of the Conchords star Jemaine Clement was among those who shared his thoughts on the playfully provocative campaign.

"Okay, but if you are in the UK ... maybe you should just go to Wales?" Clement posted.

In 2019, Wales took Dunedin's Baldwin St's Guinness World Record for world's steepest street but Dunedin got to claim the title back a few months later when Guinness reinstated Baldwin St as the steepest street on Earth.

One Kiwi commented on the ad: "First they tried to claim the world's steepest street from @Lovedunedin now they claim to be the entire country, well played, it does look quite nice there."

Okay, but if you are in the UK... maybe you should just go to Wales? https://t.co/nN8gYMIvcM

— Jemaine Clement (@AJemaineClement) March 25, 2022

There’s quite a few kiwis that would prefer tourists go to Wales instead of NZ, so well played all round 👍👏 https://t.co/6XQhjjfyQZ

— weka (@wekatweets) March 25, 2022

https://t.co/i7nP26U9fa pic.twitter.com/05vtH2MLdV

— OnlyDans (@IchNichtenLich) March 25, 2022

Wales, what have you done. You don't even have volcanoes. Or independence from Britain. https://t.co/S0ZFuQ3odK

— Cromwellian Caroline (@Writer_Caroline) March 25, 2022

First they tried to claim the world’s steepest street from @Lovedunedin now they claim to be the entire country 😄😄 well played, it does look quite nice there.. https://t.co/vYmOJwII5K

— Pras (@PrasMao) March 25, 2022