HBO’s “Final Week Tonight” host John Oliver is devoted to the artwork – a lot in order that he triggered a fiasco in New Zealand’s “Fowl of the 12 months” contest.
New Zealand has held an annual competitors for the nation’s finest poultry since 2005. The competitors, run by a forest and chicken conservation group, raises consciousness about defending the nation’s feathered pals. This yr’s choice will even be named “Fowl of the Century” to coincide with the group’s centennial.
However Oliver has choreographed an aggressive marketing campaign to assist pūteketeks, a waterfowl with a inhabitants of lower than 1,000, in keeping with the New Zealand Digital Fowl Encyclopedia.
Oliver might vote because of a loophole that permits anybody to vote with a sound e mail regardless of their nation of residence, in keeping with ABC Information.
Starting on November 5 in two episodes, the late-night host paraded the mullet-feathered chicken on his HBO present and endorsed a number of billboards world wide in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, Paris, Tokyo, London, Mumbai, India and a small city in Wisconsin, explaining “not everybody lives in massive cities,” with the marketing campaign slogan “Grasp of the Wings.”
He even had a banner flown over a seaside in Brazil and appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s “The Tonight Present” in a pūteketeke costume to advertise his marketing campaign and direct folks to votethisbird.com to solid their votes.
After Oliver’s efforts, lots of of hundreds of votes got here in earlier than the deadline on Sunday. The inflow of votes compelled Forest and Fowl to delay saying the winners for 2 days to be able to confirm every poll. The group now plans to announce the winner by Wednesday, in keeping with the Related Press.
“It was fairly loopy, in the very best means,” Forest and Fowl CEO Nicola Toki informed the publication.
Earlier than this yr, the file variety of votes was 56,000, which Toki mentioned was surpassed inside hours of Oliver launching his marketing campaign. Earlier than parading for pūtekekes, Oliver approached Forest and Fowl and the group gave him its blessing to proceed.
Oliver alluded to the explanation for his stunt on his present, saying: “In any case, that is what democracy is about – America meddling in overseas elections.”