The advertisement - originally posted this week by Burnett Foundation, formerly the New Zealand Aids Foundation - read, “Planning to f*** around during pride? Get up to date with your mpox shots.”
The advertisement - originally posted this week by Burnett Foundation, formerly the New Zealand Aids Foundation - read, “Planning to f*** around during pride? Get up to date with your mpox shots.”
The advertisement - originally posted this week by Burnett Foundation, formerly the New Zealand Aids Foundation - read, “Planning to f*** around during pride? Get up to date with your mpox shots.”
It also encouraged people to get their measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine while they were at it.
It was accompanied by an image of two men appearing to perform a sex act in a sauna, while a third man watched.
The post has since been removed from the Burnett Foundation’s Instagram page.
Health New Zealand shared the explicit post on its own Instagram account, which has over 17,000 followers, as an Instagram story. An Instagram Story is a temporary photo or video post which disappears after 24 hours.
Health New Zealand shared the explicit post on its own Instagram account, which has over 17,000 followers, as an Instagram story.
The head of communications and engagement at Health New Zealand, Catherine Delore, said the story was visible for a few hours before it was removed.
“We understand the image used by Burnett and our reshare upset some people,” Delore said.
“Burnett was trying to raise awareness about mpox/measles immunisation among its audience, and one of our team, in good faith, thought it would be a useful public health message to share.
“I apologise to anyone who was upset by that. We know we got it wrong on this occasion and we’ve acknowledged that, addressed it and learned from it.”
Meanwhile, Burnett Foundation general manager Alex Anderson said the non-government organisation “creates health promotion content designed specifically for adult Rainbow and takatāpui communities, using a sex-positive and engaging approach to ensure important messages resonate with the right audience”.
Anderson said its intent was to always ensure messaging is appropriately targeted to its communities.
“The piece of content in question was approved through our internal processes, then Health NZ made the independent decision to re-share the post on their own channels. It was then removed by Meta following a complaint, likely because it had been reshared to people outside our primary audience,” Anderson said.
“While we understand that Meta has certain content policies, it is disappointing to see a crucial public health message removed.
“We remain committed to delivering culturally relevant and accessible messaging that supports the health and wellbeing of our communities.”
Last year a controversial advertisement funded by the Burnett Foundation - designed to raise awareness about safe sex for gay men - was taken down after an influx of complaints about children seeing it outside a dairy.
The ad showed two posters that were displayed side by side on billboards and online earlier this year. The first one showed a cartoon image of a man’s naked bottom with the text “First timers, enter here”.
The second poster said, “Ins and Outs – Sex education for gay and bi guys – insandouts.org.nz”. The “I” in the word “Ins” was drawn in the shape of a penis and the “O” in the word “Outs” was drawn to look like an anus.
An ad campaign from the Burnett Foundation in early 2024 titled "Don't ride distracted" attracted eight complaints, but was not ordered to be removed by the authority. Photo / BFA
The posters strived to raise awareness about gay and bisexual sex education, but quickly garnered 86 complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority.
“I want the posters promoting anal sex outside the Birkdale dairy taken down immediately. This is a disgusting advert to have in a prime location where young children come to a dairy,” one complaint reads.
“This advert is so incredibly inappropriate to have on display for children to see. It directs them to pornographic material on the Burnett Foundation website,” another read.
Benjamin Plummer is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He has worked for the Herald since 2022.
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