New Zealand’s Hen of Century ballot winner revealed after ‘alarmingly aggressive’ marketing campaign by John Oliver

The pūteketeke has gained New Zealand’s Hen of the Century ballot after a spirited marketing campaign by British-American comic John Oliver.

The comic, who has a deep fascination with New Zealand, revealed on his present earlier this month that Final Week Tonight has taken on the position of the “official marketing campaign supervisor” for the pūteketeke or the Australasian crested grebe in New Zealand’s annual Hen of the Yr competitors.

Oliver launched a vigorous international marketing campaign for the pūteketeke. He described them as “bizarre puking birds with vibrant mullets”.

The annual competitors, which commenced in 2005, was “clearly the largest one but” in 2023, with Forest and Hen – the environmental conservation organisation which runs the competition – aiming to seek out the Hen of the Century to rejoice its one centesimal yr.

Greater than 350,000 individuals voted from 195 nations within the contest, with the pūteketeke claiming 290,374, or about 83 per cent of the whole votes.

The second place went to the north island brown kiwi, which obtained 12,904 votes, and third to the kea with 12,060.

The announcement of the winner was postponed for 2 days as a result of a flood of votes triggered by Oliver’s intervention. Oliver had a billboard erected for “The Lord of the Wings” in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington. He purchased up billboards in Japan, France, the UK, India, and the US state of Wisconsin.

A aircraft carrying a pūteketeke marketing campaign banner additionally flew over the seashores of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, in response to reviews. He appeared carrying the pūteketeke costume on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Present to advertise the chicken. He described his personal marketing campaign as “alarmingly aggressive”.

“In spite of everything, that is what democracy is all about,” Oliver mentioned on his present. “America interfering in overseas elections.”

His marketing campaign wasn’t with out controversy. It sparked a collective pushback from many teams in New Zealand who noticed it as “American interference” within the avian election.

Supporters of kakariki karaka – a inexperienced parakeet – erected billboards in response to Oliver’s marketing campaign which learn: “Pricey John, don’t disrupt the pecking order”.

The competition has survived earlier controversies. Election scrutineers in 2020 found about 1,500 fraudulent votes for the little noticed kiwi. And two years in the past, the competition was gained by a bat, which was allowed as a result of it was thought-about a part of the chicken household by Indigenous Māori.

The pūteketeke is assessed by the Division of Conservation as nationally weak – which signifies that the species is at a heightened threat of extinction within the medium time period.

With a inhabitants of fewer than 1000 in New Zealand, the pūteketeke has by no means gained the Hen of the Yr competitors.

“Congratulations to marketing campaign supervisor John Oliver and all those that gave their help to the pūteketeke,” New Zealand’s incoming prime minister Christopher Luxon wrote on X/Twitter.

The birds are native to New Zealand, however can be present in Australia, Europe and central/southern Asia.

“It’s nice to have a profitable chicken as an envoy for all New Zealand birds to point out that even threatened species can bounce again if we give them a hand,” Petrina Duncan, Forest and Hen’s grebe coordinator for its Central Otago Lakes Department was quoted as saying by New Zealand’s Stuff.

Forest and Hen chief government Nicola Toki mentioned the pūteketeke “catapulted to the highest spot because of its distinctive seems to be, cute parenting fashion, and propensity for puking”.