It needed to occur, and occur is precisely what it did: After a passionate marketing campaign from John Oliver, the noble Pūteketeke has been topped “Hen of the Century” in New Zealand’s Forest and Hen ballot.
The Final Week Tonight host launched the marketing campaign — which he himself described as “alarmingly aggressive” — throughout his present in early November, dedicating a big chunk of the episode to extolling the virtues of the Pūteketeke and urging the general public to vote for the chook.
“I do not simply need the Pūteketeke to win,” stated Oliver throughout a monologue. “I need it to win within the largest landslide within the historical past of this magnificent competitors.”
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To be able to garner as many votes as potential, Oliver launched an internet site, paid for promoting billboards in international locations the world over urging individuals to vote, and appeared on The Tonight Present dressed as a Pūteketeke. “We thought it was a powerful chook,” he defined when Fallon requested him why he’d chosen it. “There’s solely a thousand of them in New Zealand.”
Clearly, Oliver’s technique labored. The Forest and Hen’s winner announcement on Wednesday stated there had been a record-breaking 350,000+ verified votes within the contest, inflicting a crash within the voting verification system that led to a two-day delay within the Pūteketeke being topped. Of those votes, the Pūteketeke obtained over 290,000, whereas the runner-up — the North Island brown kiwi, which Oliver beforehand described as “a rat carrying a toothpick” – obtained just below 13,000. New Zealand’s incoming prime minister Christopher Luxon congratulated Oliver on X, calling it a “big end result”.
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The host hasn’t commented on the victory but, however Final Week Tonight’s votethisbird.com web site has been up to date to show a thanks message.
Credit score: votethisbird.com
Clearly, whereas Oliver will not be the “meaty oak tree” that Adam Driver is, he is nonetheless an plain power to be reckoned with.
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