Kiwis kick No Sex campaign into touch

A major sponsor has dumped a campaign urging New Zealand sports fans to give up sex to support their team, the All Blacks, during the Rugby World Cup.

Telecom Corp had planned to launch campaign next week, featuring slogans such as “abstain for the game”, describing it as a light-hearted attempt to galvanise support for the All Blacks during the tournament, which begins next month. 



But the idea of sending sex to the sin bin for the six weeks of the tournament found little public support.

An online poll in the New Zealand Herald found only 8% in support of the sex ban, while 92% of 17,000 hits answered, “No, are you kidding?”

Even NZ prime minister John Key called the campaign a waste of money.

AFP reported that the idea of a sex ban in predominantly rural New Zealand generated mirth among fans of the All Black’s rivals, South Africa, with Springboks fans posting on the Internet that they were “just happy for the sheep”.



Telecom’s retail chief executive Alan Gourdie admitted that the company had misread the public mood and announced it had been cancelled, apologising for any offence caused