11-07-2025
The Weekend: I can't stop thinking about this ad
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was.
It's either a sign I'm scraping the bottom of the vibes barrel or a sign that I'm choosing to find joy in unexpected places but last weekend I found myself utterly captivated, impressed and moved(?!) by a billboard.
To be clear, I have high standards for creative consumerism. I hate that we all just have to accept we'll be surrounded by ads all the time, and therefore feel personally insulted when it feels like that privilege – the privilege corporations have in demanding our attention – is taken for granted. When I see a grotesque and lazy Grimace ad, I will complain about it. Yesterday I saw someone opt, at the last minute, to wait for another bus because their one had the garish police wrap on it. I applauded that stranger.
Nothing signals a recession like advertising agencies phoning it in or pitching (likely out of necessity) the most low-effort campaigns imaginable. Digital billboards mean I see six meh ads at the traffic lights instead of one. My expectations for some creative flair on a sign are nil. And then last week, as I waited at the Newton Road offramp lights, I saw this:
That's it. Just an ad for a medicinal cannabis clinic. I have no need for medicinal cannabis and won't be buying any now but I laughed out loud when I saw this and then yelled 'good ad!' in the car like a child.
It's a grabby billboard that takes a quietly understood visual and makes a point with it. And it looks cool. Technically the campaign is about destigmatising cannabis use for medicinal purposes but ultimately it's an ad and an effective one at that.
But what moved me was the real-life presence of it. It's tangible and has to have been man-made. If I have to look at a big ad, it's mildly comforting to know that someone actually put it there. People all over the world still talk about the New Zealand ads for Kill Bill from 20 years ago.
AI is unavoidable at this point, and so many creative outputs (read: ads but also art, music, literature) feel either written by AI, designed with AI or at least deployed with little human touch. Giant screens that can be edited with the push of a button are cost-effective but never make me think about real people – even though there are very real people putting ads out in the world.
I looked at those giant Chucks and wondered how they were made, what they were made of, how they were transported and how they were installed. For the first time in years I saw an ad and immediately thought fondly of the real human effort behind it. Is that inspiring or depressing? I'm still not sure.
The stories Spinoff readers spent the most time with this week
Outrageous Week's wonderful opener, The birth of the Wests: How Outrageous Fortune came to be by Tara Ward
Hayden Donnell's open letter to Jacinda Ardern on open letters to Jacinda Ardern
Local Liam Rātana returns to the far north to visit the country's new supreme cafe and sees a half-frozen pie
It's once again time to ignore our crumbling infrastructure and pass the rates bills on to the next generation. Hayden Donnell on things that make people mad
Auckland councillor Julie Fairey has always advocated for improved road safety – then she got hit by a car
Feedback of the week
'Could we all please collectively take a moment to pause and appreciate the guy rocking the marijuana shirt in the back row of the fourth/bottom photo?'
On What it's like to go blind at 25
'Bloody wonderful article, Oscar.
My dads blind- started in his 30's, like his mum. It's always been far away future for me until it wasn't – on the cusp on 30 and suddenly I can't see shit.
Weird, lonely experience – thanks for making it less so.'
