Latest news with #Weet-Bix
NZ Herald
5 days ago
- Sport
- NZ Herald
Kiwi Kid Filo Scores Big with Weet-Bix and Rugby Legends
This article was prepared by Sanitarium and is being published by the New Zealand Herald as advertorial. Reporter Filoialii caught up with Black Ferns Alana and Chelsea Bremner, and All Blacks Scott Barrett and Ardie Savea, to find out who was the biggest Weet-Bix kid. Sanitarium is now taking the
Scoop
18-06-2025
- Business
- Scoop
Should Kiwis Pay The High Price For NZ Dairy That Overseas Buyers Will?
New Zealanders are paying high prices for milk, butter and cheese because of what people are willing to pay offshore, Fonterra's boss says - but is that fair? The most recent food price data showed milk prices were up 15.1 percent annually last month, to $4.57 per two litres, butter was up 51.2 percent annually to $8.42 per 500g and cheese was up 30.1 percent to $13.04 per kilogram. In May, Fonterra chief executive Miles Hurrell told RNZ prices were driven by global demand. "We're a collection of 8500 small farmers and our job is to deliver for each of them," Hurrell said. "The international market is pushing these prices very high at the moment and our job is to reflect that in the returns that we give back to our farmer owners." University of Auckland economics professor Robert MacCulloch said it was a surprising comment. "It raised my eyebrows. For a CEO to talk that way, I thought for want of a better word was dumb. "He's laying down what's known as the law of one price, or purchasing power parity. Similar goods are expected to be priced the same around the world. "He's saying that applies to dairy and we can sell it anywhere in the world so when the world price goes up, Kiwis pay more and that's the end of the story. "This is a nice theory, but it's not always true in practice. A lot of goods and services do sell for different prices [in different countries]. "He's saying we don't have any sense of social responsibility at Fonterra, which I thought was ill-judged - even though we're using farm land in the country and we've got the emissions and everything, we're ruthless profit maximisers, all we care about is maximising returns." He said BMW offered cheaper vehicles to Germans and a similar model could be used for dairy products in New Zealand. Child Poverty Action Group spokesperson Isaac Gunson said Finance Minister Nicola Wilis had referred in speeches to the fact that New Zealand fed 40 million people "with levels of efficiency and sustainability that are the envy of many". "At the same time, more than a quarter of our children experienced food insecurity in the year ended June 2024. While we feed the world, our child poverty rates are lagging behind many other countries, especially in Europe. "When milk powder sells high in Shanghai or Brussels, whānau in Aotearoa pay more for their Weet-Bix and milk - despite the fact we can grow all of the ingredients right here, and get them where they need to go.... It's a system that rewards exporters, but punishes households already doing it tough. "In a world worried about food security, it is New Zealand children who bear the brunt of that worry - and who are literally paying for it." But Gareth Kiernan, chief forecaster at Infometrics, said there were only two ways that goods could be sold for a lower price domestically than internationally: By regulating the price or paying subsidies to farmers to make up the difference. "On its own, this regulation would result in farmers making less product available to the domestic market, potentially leading to shortages. Therefore it is likely that the government would need to also mandate a minimum percentage of product to be sold domestically. "However, the lower overall return to farmers would be likely to lead to reduced production levels because squeezing out that last drop of milk would not be as profitable." He said it would also lead to lower GDP and lower incomes per capita for the country as a whole. Subsidies to farmers would need to be paid for somehow, so more tax would have to be collected. "If the revenue came from taxing higher-income households, then it is likely that some lower-income households would be better off, but higher-income households would be worse off despite their milk and butter being cheaper. "With any tax/welfare policy, there is some deadweight loss from the policy due to the administrative costs of government, as well as the less efficient allocation of resources. In this case, the less efficient allocation of resources comes from the consumer side, where people spend more than would be sensible on dairy products because they don't face the full costs." He compared it to metered or unmetered water. "If water is metered and people have to pay for their usage, then they will use it more carefully and efficiently, reducing demand and production costs. It means that local councils can then use some of the resources they would have needed to provide water to provide other goods and services instead. In the case of farmers with domestic subsidies, demand for their product would be overinflated, leading to too much of the economy's resources being devoted to farming, when there would be other more productive uses if people faced the full cost of their dairy products and therefore demanded less. Again, the outcome is lower GDP and lower incomes per capita for the country as a whole." He said there had been "egregious" examples of subsidisation in petrol prices in the Middle East. Iran, which sells petrol at about US36c a litre, had been dealing with fuel smuggling problems as people tried to get petrol out to neighbouring countries with more expensive prices. "The difficulty with these arguments is that people see the direct cost or benefit to them in terms of dairy prices, but they don't see the indirect costs of higher taxes and/or lower GDP per capita because the transmission paths are so long and opaque." Murat Ungor, a senior lecturer in the University of Otago department of economics, agreed if New Zealand detached itself from international pricing, it would undermine the incentive to efficiently produce and export and affect farmer incomes. "Typically, US butter comprises 80 percent butterfat, while European and New Zealand products offer a higher 82 percent content. This variance not only influences pricing structures but also shapes trade opportunities. European and Kiwi butter, with their richer content, cater more readily to international markets demanding premium quality. "Domestic consumers compete with international buyers, meaning local prices are influenced by global market rates rather than just local production costs. NZ dairy processors sell at international market rates, leaving little incentive to discount locally. Fonterra's dominance and supermarket duopoly reduce pressure to lower retail prices."
NZ Herald
17-06-2025
- Business
- NZ Herald
Help for those helping hardest-hit
Dave Letele's urgent advice for the charities changing NZ lives. Dave Letele's work stories should come with a warning: readers are advised they may find this article distressing. To that though, the founder of the BBM foodbank and motivational charity would probably say: 'tough'. This is the way life is for many New Zealanders today. Letele, a community ambassador for Z Energy (Z), shares a story that moved him recently. 'There's a grandmother in Manukau trying to keep her grandkids together. The mum's going through addiction, the father's in prison. She begged me for help – not asked, begged. 'So I went there, and she felt she had to prove to me just how poor she was. She opened up her fridge. It had half a dog roll and a packet of chuck steak and the cupboard had an empty box of Weet-Bix and a bottle of cooking oil. What's she going to do if it's not for groups like us? If not for all these community groups that are on the ground, helping everyone that needs a hand? 'When I started working there, it was hard in our community and it's just got so much harder. There's more demand and less support. 'I keep thinking, what would be the cost if groups like BBM can no longer continue? What would be the cost to New Zealand?' Another true story. 'A lady messaged me saying, there's a young family getting searched by the police outside her house. They searched the kids' schoolbags and all they pulled out was food. 'That's where things are at. If we want to improve our society, we've got to support the groups that are on the ground to have an impact and watch what can be achieved.' It's why Letele is passionate about encouraging groups to apply for help from Z's Good in the Hood. The company's flagship community programme that has been running for over a decade and in recent years, has distributed $1 million annually to more than 500 groups across the motu, ranging from food security and youth development to safety and wellbeing. Applications for Good in the Hood 2025 are open from June 3-29. To apply, groups simply need to fill out an online form saying who they are, what they do and how they support the community around their local Z. Z stresses the groups don't need to be a registered charity – the programme backs all kinds of non-profit, purpose-led mahi. Each participating Z station gives away $5000, split between four different groups in their community, chosen by that local Z team. Customers vote for the groups in-store from August 26 – September 21, and the money is then divided according to the votes for each group. The programme aims to increase support for Māori- and iwi-led organisations too, as internal reviews highlighted they are under-represented in funding statistics. In 2023, Z began working with Letele to improve outreach and access to those groups. As part of its commitment to funding equity across all Z's social investment, the company also runs the Regional Boost initiative, with an emphasis on supporting Māori and using the index of deprivation to guide additional funding to communities with the greatest need. Letele knows the power of Good in the Hood from the grassroots all too well after he originally applied for funding for his foodbank. A few years on, Z supports the running costs, fuel and leases for his South Auckland-based BBM programmes covering food security, motivational courses, fitness and wellness initiatives, and for him to become Z's Community Ambassador. 'If you just take our food bank, which we've had to scale down a little bit, we're helping 100 families every single week, and an average family is between five and 10 people. And then you've got our gyms where we run three to five classes per day, which are all free. Our health programmes do anything from getting people off the couch to helping people with multiple long-term health conditions. 'A JB Were economic impact report showed that $13 is returned for every $1 invested, which is a massive return. We're impacting literally thousands of people every week.' But, Letele says, 'We know there are many other organisations out there in the community, and perhaps they don't know where to go or who to talk to, to get some help for their work. 'We have a really good profile and it's still hard for us to get funding. Imagine what it's like for groups that are doing just as much work but don't have the public profile we have. 'That's the benefit of Good in the Hood. Not only can those groups receive donations, but it gets the word out about the work they're doing. They're engaging with the public who are coming into the service stations. A lot of the time, people wouldn't have heard of many of these groups, so it's a great way for them to be able to get their name out there, and for people to learn about what they do, as well as the funds they receive. It's something for everyone to build on.'
Daily Mail
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Footy star Jaidyn Stephenson confesses he spent $28,000 on Uber Eats in one year - and that's not even the most shocking thing about his diet
Former Collingwood star Jaidyn Stephenson has come clean about the insane Uber Eats bill he ran up when he first broke into the AFL as he revealed some mind-bending diet secrets. The 26-year-old admitted to spending almost $30,000 on home-delivered takeaway food in 2018 when he first made the Magpies' top side - and then there's the incredible number of Weet-Bix he went through. 'In my first year in the AFL system I spent $28,000 on Uber Eats,' he told SEN radio. 'I was living with [former teammate] Jack Madgen and his girlfriend, who is his wife now, and they'd have their chicken and veggies every night. 'They were six years older than me and they understood how life worked. 'I think I cooked twice the whole year. I would order Uber Eats for lunch or dinner, whenever I needed to. The 25-year-old (pictured playing for Collingwood) said he only cooked for himself twice during his first year in the AFL 'Luckily the club cooked us food for breakfast and lunch, but everything else was Uber Eats or going out for dinners.' Stephenson - who shocked fans when he retired at the end of last season aged just 25 - has also revealed that he ate 95 Weet-Bix with full-cream milk every week while he was at the top of his game. 'Five for breakfast, lunch, and usually after dinner,' he explained. 'I just love them. Ever since I was one or two and could start eating, I have always had Weet-Bix. It's a nice little treat.' When he was a highly rated teenage prospect back in 2017, before the Pies were cooking some of his meals, he admitted his nutritional choices left a lot to be desired. 'I didn't have the greatest lunches,' he said. 'I used to have two Nutella sandwiches with packets of chips.' Incredible as Stephenson's Uber Eats bill is, it still isn't the biggest tab that's been run up by a footy star. That honour goes to former Carlton and Brisbane star Brendan Fevola, who stunned tennis legend Andy Murray when he told him he'd spent $36,000 with the delivery service in a single year during a radio interview in January. 'I want to tell you a little stat. I order Uber Eats all the time… we sent a letter to Uber Eats to see where we rank [nationwide] in a year,' Fevola told Murray. 'Fi [Fifi Box] had spent about $3,500 AUD… and I was ranked in the top 0.001% of Australians. I was pretty much the number one Uber Eats [customer].' Murray was stunned by the confession. 'You should get knighted,' he said. Fevola then informed the tennis champion he'd spent $36,000 on Uber Eats a year. 'This is genuine?' asked Murray. Fevola replied: 'This is fair dinkum, yeah.' Murray was intrigued and wanted to know how the former athlete was splashing out so much cash. 'Yeah, breakfast, lunch… and so, dinner, because Uber Eats is so good,' explained Fevola. 'I don't know what to choose so if I want a steak, a chicken Parma, some dumplings… I just order all three and just nibble at them all.'
ABC News
30-04-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Gruen Nation unpacks the campaign trail tricks that politicians use to snag your vote
From corflutes on street corners to 'brain rot' memes on social media, political parties have pulled out all of the stops in an attempt to snag your vote this election. Gruen's panel of advertising brains are here to break down the tricks from the (campaign) trail, telly and TikTok. From silly to thought-provoking, here's how they work. Campaigning as 'emotional warfare' Cost of living has been a popular theme throughout the campaign, and former ALP strategist Annie O'Rourke says Labor would have braced for an onslaught of emotional ads from opposition parties. "You've got to grab someone's attention, and then you've got to flood their guts with feelings," Ms O'Rourke says. But, she says some ads depicting families doing it tough have not struck a chord with audiences. "Instead, they got served up [a] sad guy eating his soggy Weet-Bix," she says. "Election campaigning is emotional warfare. It's visual warfare. "Luckily for the ALP, these ads don't do that." A Liberal National Party ad depicting cost of living pressures. ( Supplied: LNP ) Advertising executive Todd Sampson says ads of this nature show the major political parties are working off the premise that "if you're ahead, be positive, if you're behind, be negative". "Fear has been used in political advertising since the beginning of political advertising, because it works," he says. " Research shows that when people are scared, they're less likely to research policy and more likely just to react illogically in many cases. " He says ads will often use dim colours and "droning" sound effects to bring the message home. The truth, the whole truth? Some might be surprised to find that political parties aren't bound to tell the truth when it comes to advertising. Sampson says there are more legal requirements and regulations around selling toilet paper than there are around selling the country's political leaders. "There is no legal requirement for political advertising to be factual; it is incredible," he says. According to the Australian Electoral Commission, the AEC has "only limited powers with respect to regulating the content or truth of electoral advertising". Former Liberal strategist Toby Ralph says it's all about persuasion, not information. He says political strategists use the foundation of truth to create a narrative, "and hope it doesn't collapse before the vote comes". Media and marketing brain Russel Howcroft says it's also common to see political ads that aren't particularly well made. "It's almost like part of the idiom of political advertising is that it's cheap, and you want to spend as much money as you possibly can on the media, not on the production of the actual advertising itself." It's left to the voters to do their own research on what the truth really is. 'Brain rot' advertising not about the message From a party leader fighting an octopus to skeletons being engulfed in flames while filling up their car, there has been a new approach to political advertising when it comes to attracting younger voters. An Australian Labor Party ad depicting Peter Dutton fighting an octopus. ( Supplied: ALP ) As absurd as some of the videos may seem, Cheek Media Co founder Hannah Ferguson says it's not about the content itself. "[These videos] don't work in the sense that they're actually spreading any kind of message," Ms Ferguson says. "They're only working in the sense that they communicate to young people that there's an obsession with achieving their vote, with earning it. "They're trying to appeal to me and that want is enticing. It's not about the message, it's about the ego stroke. "We're now trying to find the worst one to enter the group chat, or to call my brother or sister about, because people think it's hilarious." Read more about the federal election: Want even more? Here's where you can find all our 2025 ALP strategist Ms O'Rourke says the pay off really comes for political parties when young people engage with the memes. "If they're sharing it and looking at it, even getting to the end of it without scrolling on, it actually improves the algorithm," she says. "A lot of the time, these ads are [there] to do the job of scaling for the other ads, because these things get the eyeballs." A new media and celebrity influence What do Grindr, Fortnite, OnlyFans and a corflute have in common? They've all been Celebrities and influencers have also regularly featured on the campaign trail, after the 2024 US election saw party leaders engaging with new-age media. Former US president Joe Biden was interviewed on the SmartLess podcast, while President Donald Trump appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience. Abbie Chatfield posing while Greens leader Adam Bandt DJs. ( Supplied: Australian Greens/Abbie Chatfield ) Back home, Ms Ferguson interviewed both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Greens leader Adam Bandt on her podcast The Big Small Talk. Podcast host Abbie Chatfield has also interviewed the ALP and Greens leaders, and has appeared in advertising for the Greens. Sampson says the reach of influencers and podcasters shouldn't be dismissed. "They're called influencers for a reason, because their reach and impact is huge, particularly podcast influencers, because podcasts have out-mainstreamed mainstream media," he says. Photo shows a male politician talking to a young woman on a podcast The AEC has issued advice after the prime minister appeared in a co-authored Instagram post with social media personality Abbie Chatfield. "Why pay for a 30-second ad when you could have a two-hour ad? Would you rather be grilled by Sarah Ferguson or hugged by Abbie Chatfield?" Ms Ferguson says this is the first time Australia has seen politics "made hot". "I think in the US, it's like a fun conversation where celebrities get involved, but this is the first federal election in Australia where people are actually excited and think it's cool to get engaged," she says. "I think that Abbie Chatfield and other influencers in this space are saying it is cool to care. "We expect that you wear your values on your sleeve, and you communicate with your friends and family about [them], and that's one of the most powerful parts." Election ads coming from every angle So, if you're having trouble switching off from the avalanche of political advertising, there are good reasons why: advertising tricks and sheer volume. Our phones are overloaded with According to Gruen Nation host Wil Anderson, more than $27 million has been spent on election advertising during the federal election campaign so far. "The major parties have over 500 unique ads on YouTube, 300 on TikTok and 800 on Instagram," Anderson says. Watch at 8:00pm Wednesday on ABC TV, or on ABC iview.
