Cattrall Too Hot For Kiwis To Handle

The Age

Wednesday July 26, 2006

BARRY PARK

IT SEEMS Nissan's gasping TV ads for its Tiida hatchback starring Sex and the City siren Kim Cattrall are too raunchy for our trans-Tasman neighbours in New Zealand.

The car maker last week decided to pull the TV ads from New Zealand screens after a rash of complaints hit that country's advertising standards watchdog.

Nissan spokeswoman Lenore Fletcher said people had reacted negatively to the ads.

"We got a little bit of feedback from our (NZ) clients who said they weren't happy with it," she said. "I guess NZ is a very, very conservative market."

The ad campaign for the Tiida has prompted just two complaints to the Australian Advertising Standards Bureau. Both were dismissed.

The Kiwis had better take a Bex and have a good lie down if Nissan adopts the same saucy campaign approach for the Wingroad, a wagon based on the Tiida that is sold in several overseas markets. In Japan the car is dubbed "The Tool", and in the hands of Ms Cattrall, well, anything's possible.

Nissan Australia said there were no plans to bring The Tool here, but Ms Fletcher said if the company did, it may need to rethink the Japanese pitch. "No, I don't think we'd be using that name in our ad campaign here," she said.

"Obviously there's a real difference in terms of how the two cultures interpret some things." -- BARRY PARK

© 2006 The Age

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