Free publicity for The Rock
The shareholders of The Rock will want to thank Sue Bradford and Carol Beaumont for promoting their win a bride competition.
NZPA report:
A radio contest to win a Ukrainian mail-order bride has come in for more flak – this time from an MP within Parliament.
Labour’s Women’s Affairs spokeswoman Carol Beaumont this morning said she was ”appalled” by the contest.
In a blog on Labour’s Red Alert site, Beaumont added her criticism to that of the former Green Party MP Sue Bradford for the promotion.
”It is a reminder that there is still an attitude towards women in NZ that is deeply troubling – that they are commodities to buy and to own,” Beaumont said.
”The reality is that there is still a long way to go to achieving genuine equality for women in New Zealand. There are still stereotypes, put downs and discrimination.”
The contest, run by MediaWorks’ The Rock radio station, will see the winner flown to the Ukraine for 12 nights, given $2000 spending money, and offered their choice of a bride from an agency.
”If you’re interested in holy matrimony with a potentially hot foreign chick, fill it out to the best of your abilities,” the competition application form says on the station’s website.
The radio station is promoting the contest on air as ”morally bankrupt”.
This is the same radio station that also married off total strangers to each other in another competition (ironically the marriage is still going well a decade later), so why are people surprised over this competition?
February 10th, 2011 at 11:03 am
Surely they should have blamed it on John Key!
February 10th, 2011 at 11:05 am
Surprised?! Nope.
February 10th, 2011 at 11:11 am
Yet more from the anal retentive LEFTIES
Why dont you concerntrate on the real issues Sue Like the Hori kids being bashed and murdered. Your smacking law has been an abject failure just like all LEFTIE laws.
This is yet another attack on freedon of the individual by the facists of the LEFT.
And of course the dumbs arses having given the Rock lots of free publicity. LOL.
February 10th, 2011 at 11:12 am
I was sure it was The Edge and not The Rock that married off the couple?
February 10th, 2011 at 11:12 am
Do they have deaf mutes?
How do I sign up?
February 10th, 2011 at 11:16 am
They did.
John Key is the enemy because he pees standing up.
February 10th, 2011 at 11:18 am
“If you’re interested in holy matrimony with a potentially hot foreign chick”
…gota be better than our ugly pogs…
February 10th, 2011 at 11:19 am
Mediaworks as owners of “the Rock” would have had the likely response of the sisterhood factored in from the time this promotion was conceived. The Rock is unashamedly aimed at the 16 to 30 yr male audience, one of the hardest demographs to target. The slightest hint of political correctness & you’ve lost them.
I find it incredibly refreshing that the mad screeching harridans promoting ‘wimmin’s rights’ have become so predictable that it is now possible to plan a commercial advertising campaign based on their certain reactions. If the rabid bitches had shut up the impact of the Rock’s promotion would have been minimal.
Go “the Rock”!
February 10th, 2011 at 11:20 am
F*ck yeah! Love it. Go The Rock. Nice to see someone standing up to the bed wetting socialist teet sucking feminist losers.
February 10th, 2011 at 11:21 am
Criticising the idea of purchasing another human being? It’s political correctness gone maaaaaaaad.
February 10th, 2011 at 11:22 am
I will bet you a mail-order bride that the religious right will hook-up with the feminist left on this one.
February 10th, 2011 at 11:22 am
The Ukraine has suffered almost 100 years of almost uninterrupted socialism of the sort that Beaumont and Bradford can only dream about. So it is no wonder that Ukrainian women will do just about anything to get out of the place.
February 10th, 2011 at 11:22 am
i feel sorry for the poor bastard that “wins”.
she will come over, probably hot (yay), but after about 2 years she will divorce him and take half his shit. move more of her family over and into his house, while he rents a shitty place next door to philu.
she may have a kid which will screw him even more and ensure she can sit pretty on the dpb.
if hes really unlucky she will tell the police he abusing her, a sure fire way to have him removed from the family home.
fun times!!!
February 10th, 2011 at 11:22 am
I think The Rock should change their name back to Dwayne.
Dwayne FM – has a ring to it, no?
Oh, wait, that was….
February 10th, 2011 at 11:24 am
how exactly are they “purchasing” a girl?
arent they paying for the dude to fly over there and then her fees and airfare to come here?
she is doing it because she wants to right?
shes not some kinda slave being bought on the black market?
February 10th, 2011 at 11:28 am
Yeah, she’s not technically a slave. And her life here would probably be better than whatever situation she signed up to a mail-order bride company to escape.
Then again, if I could actually buy a slave from, say, the Sudan, his or her life here as my slave would probably be better than the situation they left.
February 10th, 2011 at 11:29 am
So Dime…
Are you telling us that you are just going to stick with hookers?
February 10th, 2011 at 11:29 am
They have a website, so ‘above board’ in some way. Not sure the woman has a choice about who picks her though, but that might’ve been part of her contract…
February 10th, 2011 at 11:30 am
Ukrainian women are some of the hottest in the world – and the best thing is that there are 118 of them for every 100 men – the highest ration in the world. Now that’s a man drought!
Frankly it is unbelievable that these politicians could not only be so sexist, but so racist. Assuming Ukrainian women are not in charge of their own destiny and are victims of exploitation is a grotesque insult to them.
February 10th, 2011 at 11:35 am
A mate of mine married a Ukranian woman.
My jaw dropped when I met her. She lookedlike her photo
Blonde, stunning looking, 6ft + sporty type multilingual and a university degree. Couldn’t work out what she saw in NZ. She’s still here and they’re still married.
February 10th, 2011 at 11:37 am
Bruv – I do like me a hooker or two
The trick is to never see the same one twice.
Been dating lately though.. Thats had an impact on my hooker visits
Although im a dirtbag, if im dating someone i never cheat… i just get bored an dump em ha
February 10th, 2011 at 11:45 am
ok, maybe i was a bit hasty lol
http://www.bridesofukraine.com/brides/russian-brides-view-lady-profile-4187.htm
February 10th, 2011 at 11:48 am
Ryan Sproull, the PC gone mad claim can be made quite appropriately in this case. The fact that the competition is News shows that NZ does not view women as commodities. This thing is out of the ordinary, so blaming NZ culture for it is plain stupid.
And the woman ISNT being bought, any more than the guy is being ‘bought’ for providing access to NZ.
February 10th, 2011 at 11:54 am
”It is a reminder that there is still an attitude towards women in NZ that is deeply troubling – that they are commodities to buy and to own,”
Sutpid Labour idiots one again show their wolly and myopic thinking. Labour passed the Prostitution Reform Bill. If anything sent a signal to society that women are a commodity was bill. **** I hate Labour.
February 10th, 2011 at 11:54 am
Criticising the idea of purchasing another human being? It’s political correctness gone maaaaaaaad.
Please explain how this is about someone ‘purchasing’ a human being?
February 10th, 2011 at 11:58 am
Then again, if I could actually buy a slave from, say, the Sudan, his or her life here as my slave would probably be better than the situation they left.
Which has absolutely NOTHING to do with this discussion.
February 10th, 2011 at 12:09 pm
An unintended consequence of the Rocks’ promotion is that the bride would only get a temporary visa to visit New Zealand, she could marry here but wouldn’t be able to stay. The Rock will be inadvertently setting the bride up for a fall.
Also to play the game fairly the Rock will have to run a similar competition for the girls, ie “Win a Husband”.
February 10th, 2011 at 12:16 pm
I think it was “The Edge” station that had 2 strangers get married. The girl was canadian and her mother was horrified.
Of course, maybe the rock has done it too, I don’t listen too often.
February 10th, 2011 at 12:23 pm
Any Win a Husband competition would have to visit countries which have a surplus of men. I’m not sure many women would want a husband from Saudi Arabia.
February 10th, 2011 at 12:31 pm
I assume that neither of our justifiably embittered loudmouths has a problem with arranged marriages and dowries though … kulcha makes all the difference I suppose.
February 10th, 2011 at 12:36 pm
The old chestnut of buying a bride is a joke for a reason, the implication is that those that do have something missing in the personality or looks dept, i.e. are sad losers who can’t find a real wife or are sadly superficial and just want an ornament. Its fairly typical LCD behavior of the Rock to exalt this to a competition. Underlying it all is usually some chauvanist sentiment so I don’t know why you would be all mock surprised that some people find such a competition offensive.
February 10th, 2011 at 12:45 pm
Sure it does, Bevan. I pointed out that her life may well be improved by moving here, and then I noted that an improved life doesn’t necessarily justify every means of making it happen.
February 10th, 2011 at 12:59 pm
Slavery and ‘mail-order-brides’ are completely different you idiot. If they were even remotely similar, both would be illegal.
February 10th, 2011 at 12:59 pm
Um, Ryan, when in a hole and all that…
But I for one am sad to see “The Rock” getting free publicity, if there is a station with more inane, puerile, and simply useless commentary team anywhere in NZ it must be a spoof of this station. Perhaps it’s just the “aiming at the 16 – 30 males demographic”, but if that’s how to do it, our male “youth” is more f..in’ crapulously empty headed than I in even my cynical moments would have thought. They do fit in very well, though, with the binge drinking culture we’re building up in NZ. Once you get plastered enough any voices saying anything at all on a radio are probably talking at a more coherent level than the average of the conversations going on around you.
February 10th, 2011 at 1:06 pm
That the couple that were paired up a decade ago isn’t ironic, unless your definition of irony was learned from Alanis Morrisette.
February 10th, 2011 at 1:09 pm
It has to be said, the Ukrainian women are particularly beautiful. Maybe the winner should read this book to ensure he understands the culture:
“Ukrainian women are renowned not just for their beauty, but also for their style and charisma. In addition to this, they are usually extremely fit and know how to look after their bodies and to look good at all times. Now if this isn’t enough, they are usually extremely well-educated — many of them with masters degrees or at least university degrees — and also they like to learn and to educate themselves. Not only this, but they are well known for being good cooks and they also love to take care of their homes.
Ukrainian women also make fantastic wives, because they are generally very supportive of their men. Furthermore, they make excellent mothers and without hesitation always want children. This makes them very family orientated and traditional. However having children, will not stop them wanting to have a career as well! So can you see the attraction? Is it any wonder, so many men in the know, want to get married to a Ukrainian lady?…
The book contains 85 pages of rock solid information, which you simply must know before finding and dating your Ukrainian lady. Reading it will save you time and money in your pursuit of your ideal Ukrainian lady.”
http://www.ukrainianbridesecrets.com/
February 10th, 2011 at 1:12 pm
Well if its ROCK SOLID information, i better grab a copy lol
February 10th, 2011 at 1:30 pm
I suppose its interesting to see that The Rock has finally acknowledged its listeners are sad, pathetic gits, if this is their offering.
February 10th, 2011 at 1:37 pm
They are similar in that some people are opposed to them, and some other people could justify them on the basis of greatly improving the lives of the supposed victims.
February 10th, 2011 at 1:41 pm
Maybe. The fact that The Rock’s marketing team doesn’t think this promotion is brand suicide means they think a significant portion of New Zealand is fine with the idea of winning a wife as a prize in a competition. They could be wrong, but I doubt it.
It’s mainly in the news because two people out of 4 million have kicked up a fuss. MPs and former MPs are not necessarily reflective of New Zealand views.
February 10th, 2011 at 1:49 pm
***ephemera (405) Says: February 10th, 2011 at 1:30 pm
I suppose its interesting to see that The Rock has finally acknowledged its listeners are sad, pathetic gits, if this is their offering.***
Why are they sad and pathetic? If you read much evolutionary psychology material (Robert Winston’s ‘Human Instinct’ is probably a good start) you’ll see it’s not surprising men would find this appealing.
February 10th, 2011 at 1:51 pm
They are similar in that some people are opposed to them, and some other people could justify them on the basis of greatly improving the lives of the supposed victims.
WTF? Thats probably the WORST justification I have ever heard for anything!
You think they are the same cause people oppose them? Thats like saying eating McD’s is the same as slavery – cause some people oppose them.
February 10th, 2011 at 2:00 pm
But I didn’t say they were the same. I said they were similar. If you said that eating McDonald’s is similar to slavery in that some people oppose them, you’d be technically correct. If you said that’s not enough similarity to warrant being as outraged by McD’s as you are by slavery, I’d also agree.
My point was that I was offering a justification for mail-order brides – that their lives can be vastly improved – and then noted that the improvement of a life doesn’t automatically justify something, in that the life improvement of a slave is apparently not a good enough justification for slavery.
February 10th, 2011 at 2:11 pm
@Bob R
Sure, I understand the reasons men would do it. But I have seen the kind who go for Thai/Philippine/Eastern Europe marriage agencies, and they all tend to be loner-types with strange hangups.
I stand to be corrected.
February 10th, 2011 at 2:17 pm
Louis Theroux did a good documentary about mail-order brides. You can find it on http://www.documentaryheaven.com
February 10th, 2011 at 2:26 pm
Ryan Sproull>Maybe. The fact that The Rock’s marketing team doesn’t think this promotion is brand suicide means they think a significant portion of New Zealand is fine with the idea of winning a wife as a prize in a competition. They could be wrong, but I doubt it.
The Rock’s marketing team know that everyone in the country apart from Beaumont, Bradford, and yourself realises that no one actually wins a wife. The prize is nothing more than a trip to the Ukraine to meet a few women who have chosen to join an electronic matchmaking site. These electronic dating sites are quite common in NZ and generally don’t attract the attention of Labour Party MPs and Green MPs who quit parliament when their colleagues rejected them for a leadership position. So I’m guessing that the problem is that the women are Ukrainian.
What do you have against Ukrainians?
February 10th, 2011 at 2:34 pm
ryan – are you actually a chick?
February 10th, 2011 at 2:35 pm
I’m not actually convinced I have a problem with it. I’ve done some thinking (out loud, here) and looked into it a bit.
Do you think there’s much difference between a dating site in New Zealand and this dating site in the Ukraine? It’s a company that explicitly matches Ukrainian women with Kiwi men. Which New Zealand dating sites were you thinking of?
In fact, one of the pages on that site ends with the following string of words, just to make sure it turns up in the right Google searches:
February 10th, 2011 at 2:39 pm
David, I haven’t actually decided what I think about the promotion. Been thinking out loud here and learning a bit about the promotion.
You’re really comparing this site to New Zealand dating sites? It’s a company that explicitly matches Ukrainian women with Kiwi men. At the bottom of one of the pages is the following string of words, just to make sure it ends up on the right Google searches:
Which New Zealand dating sites were you saying it’s similar to?
February 10th, 2011 at 2:41 pm
That list is at the bottom of this page, if you want to see for yourself: http://endlessloveagency.devhub.com/about-ladies
February 10th, 2011 at 2:42 pm
I’d post the link, but comments with links in them are going into moderation at the moment. It’s the “about ladies” page. Link to the “electronic matchmaking” site is on The Rock’s site, though you could probably just Google “mail order brides from Ukraine” to find it.
February 10th, 2011 at 2:45 pm
***Sure, I understand the reasons men would do it. But I have seen the kind who go for Thai/Philippine/Eastern Europe marriage agencies, and they all tend to be loner-types with strange hangups.
I stand to be corrected.***
I’m not surprised by that, but I would expect there to be a broader range of people who would use their services. It would be interesting to see if there is any survey data. I would have thought they would tend to be middle aged, divorced & looking for someone young enough to start a new family with.
February 10th, 2011 at 2:48 pm
Sure, I understand the reasons men would do it. But I have seen the kind who go for Thai/Philippine/Eastern Europe marriage agencies, and they all tend to be loner-types with strange hangups.
Try being married to a Kiwi chick, then you’ll understand.
February 10th, 2011 at 2:56 pm
There’s a good documentary by Louis Theroux (who’s great) that shows a few different sides to the question of mail-order brides.
One guy who runs a Thai bride service is undeniably creepy, having married a succession of girls who have come into his office himself, the most recent within hours of meeting her.
On the other hand, there’s this sweet lonely old British retired serviceman who’s written poems to read to his chosen bride (when he finds her) promising all the ways he’ll take care of her.
A relevant question might be what kind of criteria will The Rock be using to select the winner? It could be they’re looking for a sweet lonely Kiwi guy. It might not be. At least some of the entries so far look like they could be really nice guys – one appears from his photo to be a single father, perhaps divorced or a widower.
February 10th, 2011 at 2:58 pm
Pretty grotty promotion……..still Labour would be all for it if it was promoting a Civil Union with same sex participants……….Actually I thought Ukrainians were Islamists.
February 10th, 2011 at 3:05 pm
@Bob R
My impression has been of a man who has been previously married, but their home is a complete mess now, and aren’t bothered learning to cook for themselves. Now they need someone to clean for them and administer the occasional blowie. Fluency in English may not be essential.
February 10th, 2011 at 3:11 pm
*** Now they need someone to clean for them and administer the occasional blowie.***
Heh!
February 10th, 2011 at 3:21 pm
***Actually I thought Ukrainians were Islamists.***
Apparently they make up about 4% of the population.
February 10th, 2011 at 3:22 pm
Bevan @ 2.48pm
You bring up a good point. If someone is given the choice of a slim, well educated Ukrainian or Thai woman vs the Kiwi women one sees waddling through Pak & Save in their collapsed Ug boots complete with a couple of crotch droppings to fund their DPB based lifestyle it has to be a no contest. Class vs arse would describe it.
February 10th, 2011 at 3:24 pm
Since we’re doing stereotypes in this thread…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnvRmj7G3XE
February 10th, 2011 at 3:26 pm
@backster
You have them confused with Chechnyans
February 10th, 2011 at 3:31 pm
ok, lets spin this around.
if the rock were running a competition where a chick could win a an african husband with a 14 inch dick.. would you actually care?
would you think “thats sexist! wah wah wah”
February 10th, 2011 at 3:56 pm
Is the African with the 14-inch dick secretly Bret Michaels?
February 10th, 2011 at 4:17 pm
@dime
No, they would accuse you of slavery.
February 10th, 2011 at 5:04 pm
One of the funniest emails I’ve received was…. imagine people…..
A white woman in the forest, she had both arms wrapped around a black man, no way was she letting him go….. He was leaning against a tree (naked) and he had a cock hanging below his knees…. was funny it was
February 10th, 2011 at 7:09 pm
Typical reaction from the feminazis Bradford and Beaumont. Talk about a bite – hook, line sinker and most of the arm.
Humourless fuckwits
February 10th, 2011 at 8:27 pm
Nasska at 11.19 has summed it all up in a succinct manner.
His post is what makes this the best blog site on the net. I hope that Nasska will be able to post similarly insightful pieces. Beaumont and Bradford are just too blinkered to see that they have made themselves tools of The Rock’s marketing plan. The best advertising that one can get is the advertising that does not cost anything. With opponents like Beaumont and Bradford, and the main stream media’s willingness to quote them ad nauseum, a successful campaign can be planned.
But for all that Ed Snack’s comment about The Rock’s target audience is a worry; a worry for the future of our country. Spare a thought for a young woman who would wish to bring up a child with a man; those Rock listeners make her job of finding a suitable mate for life a bloody difficult task. There are an awful lot of dingbats out there that make up The Rock’s target audience.
February 11th, 2011 at 1:14 am
DPF: the radio station was actually The Edge, so same company (media works or what ever) but different station.
And the context was quite different, whilst they were strangers friends and family for both sides picked people they thought would match each others personality. Comparing that to a ‘mail order bride’ is quite different.
Personally find the competition a little distasteful, but whatever. Guess John Key will need to book a slot to state which one he would shag.
February 11th, 2011 at 5:41 am
The Edge was the blind wedding thing, not the Rock. Zane and Paula were the Womens magazines media darlings before they discovered that Dan Carter and Simon Bridges could whore themselves too
February 11th, 2011 at 6:09 am
Pfft, anybody reading the T&C of this competition and having some commonsense would know this isn’t at all a “win a wife” competition. I have blogged all about it myself… with hot photos
http://clintheine.blogspot.com/2011/02/feminist-ukrainians-wont-come-to-nz.html