Masterpet have released theri final sales figures poll results. They say:

Prime Minister Helen Clark has exceeded most pundits’ expectations in the Masterpet Dog Tucker poll, but a few days out from the election it may prove to be one poll she doesn’t want to win.

Over the past six weeks New Zealanders have been putting their votes where their dogs’ mouths are, purchasing Helen Clark for their dogs at a ratio of 61:39 to the sales of John Key.

The poll, which has been run in conjunction with KiwiBlog, has been ratified now that Helen Clark has virtually sold out.

Masterpet spokesperson Peter Couchman said this was not a poll either of the leaders were particularly keen win.

“Helen has been quite badly savaged since day one, back in mid September.”

Mr Couchman said he had also received unconfirmed reports of people buying Helen Clark as a memento, rather than for their dog to maul.

National Party leader John Key has taken a shine to his latex likeness during the campaign, appearing in photographs with his toy.

“The Nats have obviously seen it as a cheap way of circumventing the electoral finance act, and it might just be working,” Mr Couchman said.

We had a great time handing these out from the blogmobile, and did a feature on Sky News about them. Has been a lot of fun, and amazing how popular they are with people.

The dog toy poll that is. Since the win in the debate, the number of Key dog toys has started to rise. is this linked?

Helen has dipped below 60% but is still going strong.

Does this mean Helen is heading to the political graveyard? Toby (above) seems determined to put her there. Keep those pictures coming!

The Helen toys have broken through the 60% mark as they just get more and more popular. The John Campbell toys are dropping off a bit and the gap between Campbell and Sainsbury is narrowing.

If any readers have purchased a toy just send us the photos of your dog playing with it. We’ll run the best ones.

Helen has climbed further up the dog toy stakes and has hit 60%.

We are also getting a box of the toys for the blogmobile so hope to get some action shots in various towns of dogs with their toys!

Helen still has a commanding lead amongst the pooches and Campbell is also beating out Sainsbury.

Sideswipe also has this photo and story:

Jarrod was in an Animates pet store last Saturday, getting the usual supplies for his animals, when suddenly he realised he was being watched … by John Campbell. “In front of the counter was the attached picture. Special-edition ‘Election 08′ chew toys for dogs. I don’t need to explain who is who in the photo – they really are that good. However, there was someone missing , so I asked the staff, ‘Where’s Helen?’ … The staff replied, ‘She’s sold out’.”

Also Stuff had this story on Tuesday regarding the promotion.

Helen still has a strong lead in the sales over Key. And Campbell is ahead of Sainsbury at this stage also.

TV3 also had a fun item on Nightline about the toys.

4th Mark Sainsbury 8%
3rd John Campbell 11%
2nd John Key 19%
1st Helen Clark 61%

So a runaway lead for Helen so far. But are people buying her toy as a sign of affection or because they like sights like this:

Is the dog tenderly fetching her to bring to theri owner, or is she about to start chewing?

We’ll update later this week with even more sales figures.

Well I’m pleased to announce that Masterpet have brought the toys back for the 2008 election, and both Helen and John get a toy of their own.

Now Masterpet, sharing Kiwiblog’s sense of humour, has decided to turn the dog toys into an election poll. They will be providing regular sales figures to Kiwiblog, and we’ll be doing updates to see which politician is the most popular with the pets!

This is non-commercial on my part. I’m taking part because it is good fun. And Masterpet is not endorsing my political leanings – they chose Kiwiblog as the readers here seem to enjoy the lighter side of politics.

So all you dog owners out there, you can buy a John toy or a Helen toy for less than $10 at speciality pet stores and vet clinics as well as selected supermarkets. They sold out quickly last time, so it may be a fun race to see who can sell out first. And every toy sold will count as a pet vote for that MP.

Masterpet has provided some tips for dog owners:

1. Remember your purchase is part of a political poll – your vote counts
2. Wear suitable ear protection when supervising your dog’s playtime with the toy. As with real politicians, the squealing can become quite deafening.
3. Keep dog on a leash if around real politicians. Masterpet does not accept any liability for dog toy mistaken identity.
   
4. When choosing a toy, take your dog along with you. Man’s best friend doesn’t like political ideologies thrust upon him/her more than the next person.
5. If your dog destroys the politician in the first five minutes don’t hold this against your dog – the media do it every week!

I did also ask Masterpet why they only did a Helen and John dog toy, as a Winston toy could well prove popular again. Their response was:

As the leaders of the two major parties, it’s pretty much guaranteed that Helen or John will become next Prime Minister. We considered producing another Winston Peters like we did in 1997 but felt, given recent events, he‘s already destined to become ‘dog tucker’.

Heh.

I should receive the first set of sales figures on Monday, so the first poll results will be Monday or Tuesday next week. Let the pets decide!