Editorial: Publicity farcical for Cup

It's been a rough couple of weeks for the Rugby World Cup.

Organisers would have hoped to slowly build hype and excitement around the event as kick-off on September 9 approached.

Instead, much of the build-up has been derailed by the fuss over the price of the new-look All Blacks jersey, speculation that the William Webb Ellis Trophy which was presented to fans across New Zealand was not, in fact, the real cup, and now by Telecom's bizarre marketing campaign urging rugby fans to abstain from sex to support the All Blacks.

The campaign was to be fronted by All Blacks legend Sean Fitzpatrick, urging supporters to abstain from sex during the Rugby World Cup - and to let everyone know about their stance by wearing a black pledge band on a finger.

However, Telecom pulled the pin on the campaign yesterday, after details went public, and the public in turn responded with a mixture of outrage and incredulity.

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