Tui billboards headed for the axe

Photo / Warren Buckland

Irreverent Tui billboards and busty Tui "girls" so much a part of New Zealand culture will survive even if liquor laws are reviewed the way the Law Commission envisages: Yeah, Right.

With advertising and promotion of liquor as a "fun" product, it could well be the days of the orange and black billboards with their witty phrases are numbered.

And it could spell the end for Kiwi blokes Brucetta and Davina, who break into the Tui brewery where the workers are all stunning women, in order to steal beer.

Evidence showed the exposure of young people to alcohol marketing sped up the onset of drinking and increased amounts consumed, the commission reported.

It devised a three-stage plan to bring promotion, advertising and sponsorship under greater regulation, banning the promotion of excessive drinking, limiting exposure to alcohol promotion and clamping down on what messages can be sent.

The massive report said the ultimate aim should be to arrive at a point where no alcohol advertising was permitted in any media other than that which simply gave straight product information, along the lines of beer is made with hops and water.

No one would switch the channel when those ads came on: Yeah, Right.

- NZPA