Rather than thinking about backing the boys in black, or even hopping into bed with a loved one, there's a fair chance that a good proportion of the population is now instead wondering what on earth Telecom was thinking.
The credibility of any sort of campaign of this nature depends on the realistic possibility of people actually adopting it.
This was never likely with Telecom's call to become a nation of abstainers.
It doesn't help that there was never going to be any discernible benefit to the All Blacks from their fans suddenly turning into a group of prudes.
Were we all suppposed to have more energy for cheering?
It's not like Telecom has a massive well of public goodwill and support to draw upon.
This is the company whose XT network crashes became the stuff of legend, and which then tried to ameliorate the public relations disaster by creating another one, in the form of an ill-judged advertisement showing mega-rich CEO Paul Reynolds apologising while fly-fishing in a river.
Telecom may have thought, with some justification, that public outrage couldn't get much worse than the XT fallout.
They were wrong.
Taking away a good portion of the nation's ability to communicate while on the move is bad enough.
But asking the country to give up sex?
In the words of MasterCard, another large corporate All Blacks backer - priceless.
Feedback: editor@wanganuichronicle.co.nz
