Mt Ruapehu mounts cheeky Aussie promotion

A North Island ski resort has mounted a cheeky promotion with advertising filled with suggestive quips about erectile dysfunction, orgasms and penis size to attract Australian tourists.

The advertisements running online and in newspapers in Queensland and New South Wales until May 24 promote winter ski holidays at Mt Ruapehu - claimed to be New Zealand's "sexiest ski area for a quickie," Brisbane's Courier-Mail newspaper reported.

Mt Ruapehu's marketing manager, Mike Smith, told the newspaper the "sex sells" approach was influenced by the fact that Mt Ruapehu was the biggest ski area in New Zealand, had the longest vertical descent in Australasia and was an active volcano.

"We considered the size, length and variety of ski runs on Mt Ruapehu and wrapped it up into a creative that is laced with sexual innuendo, an old fashioned marketing ploy," Mr Smith said.

- NZPA