Men In New Zealand Media: Tui "Yeah Right" Billboard Ads

It's a common belief that Kiwi blokes (and in particular young men) are relaxed, shallow and informal pleasure-seekers, and the series of Tui billboard ads use this male representation to market their beer.

The Tui "Yeah Right" billboards are famous throughout New Zealand for their humourous value, and they are  funny because they represent the thoughts of Kiwi males on topics such as interests, women and work. These ads create a strong representation of Kiwi men, telling us that they are lazy and sexually suggestive, as well as being interested in things that are perceived manly (such as barbecues and rugby) and critical of things perceived non-manly (such as poetry and ballet). These stereotypes of NZ men are conveyed to the public through statements on billboards which are answered with the phrase "Yeah right.", with the Tui logo placed at the bottom of the ad.

One of the statements made by Tui about Kiwi men is that they are informal, over-casual and self-centred:
"It took me ages to pick your present. (Yeah right.)"
"Giving is better than receiving. (Yeah right.)"
"Happy birthday, my shout. (Yeah right.)"
Men are interested primarily in benefiting themselves according to Tui, who imply that men prefer getting rather than giving and are reluctant to spend money on others.

The Tui billboards also portray men as being quite lustful towards women:
"Double down, the most pleasure you can get from two breasts. (Yeah right.)"
"I was reading her t-shirt. (Yeah right.)"
"I thought it was a shop where girls sell calendars? (Yeah right.)"
The representation that men gain enjoyment out of womens' bodies is present in each of the three above ads; by implying in the first two ads that females' breasts are pleasurable to men and by suggesting in the third billboard that the Calendar Girls strip club is a place men choose to visit (whether they take accountability for it or not).

CALENDAR GIRLS: This ad portrays men as being strip-club
visitors and people with no accountability for their actions.

The final portrayal the Tui ads make about men is that they reject certain pastimes which are seen as being non-masculine, such as ballet, poetry and man-bags:

"If he wants to do ballet, let him. (Yeah right.)"

"I wrote you this poem. (Yeah right.)"

"Hope I get a man-bag for Father's day. (Yeah right.)"

The two activities are not seen as favourable male pastimes in common New Zealand ideology, and the Tui billboards support the idea that real men do not do ballet or write poetry. They also tell us that young men find man-bags unfavourable.

This collective stereotype surrounding the thinking, actions and behaviour of (generally young) Kiwi men is used by Tui as part of their marketing scheme which attempts to sell beer. This marketing scheme uses humour as its way of luring customers towards the Tui brand, and this humour comes in the form of "Yeah Right" statements made from the point-of-view of stereotypical young men. The representation Tui promotes about young men (lazy, self-interested, woman-loving and masculine) is necessary to create the humour as it provides the audience with an outline of the "type" of person who would make these comments. If the "Yeah Right" campaign featured mindsets which could not be related to by the target audience (young men), then the jokes would likely not make any sense and Tui wouldn't get on good terms with any new customers. For example, if the ads were written from the point-of-view of middle-aged female marine biologists then most of the target audience wouldn't understand them. The representations are made about young men because this is the demographic Tui are marketing to; and they stereotype this group because they want to be able to relate to as much of this audience as possible.

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While the "Yeah Right" billboards attempt to relate to as many young men as they can, in reality the stereotypes they convey do not accurately represent all of this young male demographic. While men are portrayed in the ads as being self-centred, in real life there are plenty of males who enjoy giving to others and would happily "shout" a friend drinks on their birthday. Also, the Tui billboards suggest that men are all perverts and lustful for women, however in reality lots of men are not attracted to women or do not behave in the ways that the ad implies men do (ie. visiting strip clubs). Finally, the ads send out the message that men do not write poetry or enjoy using man-bags, however there are a number of males who do. The stereotypes in the ads differ from reality because the ads are targeted at what is believed to be the biggest group of people in their target market (of young men) as opposed to being targeted at all the separate sub-groups or individuals contained in the young male demographic.

The representation that young men are self-centred, lustful and masculine can effect both the actions of the stereotyped group and the way in which society perceives young males. For example, young men influenced by the ads may choose not to take up ballet because it has been portrayed as an unfavourable activity to do for young men. Men who do not currently act or think the way the ads say they do could be prone to changing their behaviour in order to fit in and be part of this "normal" group. The stereotypes emitted by the Tui ads can also effect how society perceives young men. People outside the target group, especially those who don't associate with any young men, could be led to believe that all young males think and act the way that is implied in the Tui ads. This could lead to judgement and social prejudice of members of the target group by those outside it, for example an elderly woman may think that a young man is a self-obsessed pleasure-seeker even if he is not, because that is the way he is represented in the media.

Young men in New Zealand are often represented as informal, self-interested blokes who enjoy women and manly activities, and Tui uses this stereotype in their "Yeah Right" billboards to create humour as a method of selling beer.