The outburst was a multi-platinum TV hit, playable on repeat after repeat and still amusing.
Media commentator Russell Brown called the Corkery outburst "ruinous and unprofessional".
In her own defence, Ms Corkery later said cocky TV reporters wound her up. But she did confess: "I have never before called anyone a 'puffed up little shit'."
Sorry for being sorry
Former leader of the Labour Party, David Cunliffe
Not long before former Labour leader David Cunliffe was seen consoling himself on Herne Bay beach, he thought he had a shot at winning the election.
On July 4, he told a Women's Refuge forum he was "sorry for being a man" because men committed most family violence.
The statement didn't immediately seem so disastrous. But some onlookers questioned the sincerity and the timing of the delivery.
"Is he going to go down to the local rugby club and get up and say 'I'm sorry for being a man'? I don't think so," John Key responded.
Soon, nobody remembered Labour's promise to put an extra $15 million a year into supporting victims of family violence.
Ms Pead had PR advice for Mr Cunliffe: "He's better off kissing babies to get votes - don't alienate your male audience."
This account is now closedSoon after her husband's election loss, Mr Cunliffe's wife, Karen Price, decided a Twitter account was a good way to tackle hubby's political opponents in the party's Anyone But Cunliffe faction.
What could go wrong? For a start, giving your "anonymous" account a name eerily similar to your own nickname was not a stroke of genius. Ms Price was promptly busted.
"My actions were ill-judged and were the result of extreme frustration and trying to look after my husband and family," she said.
Ms Pead said the story was a disaster for Ms Price. "People respect standing by your man - she should have fronted it."
Who you gonna call?
Police get lots of great PR. Mostly, it helps that Kiwis generally trust the police. This rests on a basic assumption - cops are conscientious, don't fudge stats, or make things up.
So when in July it was revealed Counties Manukau police had altered official crime statistics to make hundreds of burglaries "disappear", an ominous sense of unease followed.
"They would have to work to rebuild their image after that as they would have lost some of our trust," Ms Pead said.
The fudging in question happened from 2009 to 2012, when current commissioner Mike Bush was district commander and Judith Collins Police Minister. Her successor, Anne Tolley, assured the public it was an isolated incident. But the Criminal Bar Association said it feared police manipulation of crime statistics was more widespread than we were led to believe.
The phantom Irishman
A driver was pulled over in the Coromandel for driving with a kayak strapped crossways on top of his car.
More amusing, unless you're from the Emerald Isle, was an incident in December when the luck of the Irish evaded police. A driver was pulled over in the Coromandel for driving with a kayak strapped crossways on top of his car. The ridiculous-looking combo prompted Waikato police to issue a statement blaming an "Irish tourist". They got most details right - except for the driver's nationality. An apology followed the next day.
A fugitive from justice ... and baldness
Phillip Smith
Omnishambles. It's one word you might use to describe the escape of Phillip John Smith.
Corrections was accused of incompetence after a paedophile and murderer escaped the country.
As the news broke, Corrections chief executive Ray Smith kept a low profile. His national commissioner, Jeremy Lightfoot, faced a press conference looking like a rabbit in headlights.
Why was the killer on temporary release? How long did it take for his sponsor to alert Corrections, for Corrections to tell police, for police to warn the public?
The questions extended to Customs, Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Justice.
How did Smith get a passport in his birth name? Notch up so many convictions under another name? How could Customs let him leave the country?
The Herald called it an "alarmingly straightforward" escape.
The fugitive was only stopped when that paragon of stringent law enforcement and bureaucratic efficiency, Brazil, caught him in a backpackers' hostel.
Can I have some meat on these ribs?
An equally weighty issue afflicted clothes shop Glassons.
Ribs look good glazed, slathered in sauce, and on a plate. They don't look so good on mannequins, according to 16,000 people who signed a petition demanding the chain dump the malnourished models.
Despite the ribbing it received, Glassons at first defended the delicate dummies. But then it backtracked, said sorry, and lamented its "unattainable depiction of women".
Fashion brand boss Denise L'Estrange-Corbet wasn't clambering to click the petition. "Clothes look better on skinny people," she said.
Ms Pead agreed, and called the fashion franchise's flip-flop farcical. "They should have stuck to their guns."
Dirty vegetables
In a year of dirty politics, what really concerned New Zealanders most was "dirty lettuce and carrots", according to BlacklandPR director Mark Blackham.
He deemed the handling of the yersinia pseudotuberculosis issue by the Ministry for Primary Industries a disaster.
"Everyone had these vegetables in our fridges, yet no one in authority could say for some time whether they were a health threat," Mr Blackham said.
"Millions of people were affected and little information is a recipe for fear, rumours and anger."
