Telecom admits TV ad “faked”

Telecom has admitted that the TV ad featuring stuntwoman Zoe Bell being dropped into the ocean while strapped inside a shipping container is fake and the phone calls were never made.

“It’s like in a movie, when you see actors being blown up, you know they’re not really being blown up.  Initially we intended to do the whole thing but we decided it was far too dangerous.

We really enjoyed the whole ‘was she, wasn’t she’ debate and it’s created a lot of buzz.  At the end of the day the ad was to have an element of truth to it – which it does because the network does work in those locations – and it has to be entertaining.

We have made every effort to be as transparent as possible.”

- Michelle Teague, Telecom’s head of communications and brand.

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Co-founder of Throng. Favourite TV shows recently: Homeland, Revenge, House.
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  • AV

    Well DUH! Thats a pretty big no brainer there.

  • Vik

    I agree. Duh. How could anyone actually think that was real in the first place? Not to mention how annoying the ad is, I wouldn’t go with Telecom no matter what they claim their phones do.

  • regan

    sounds familiar

  • Fozzy Bear

    Here we go again! I’ve blogged and argued over the very same problem (and company) before too. The blow-hard boys and girls @ Telecom’s bull$hit, sorry “advertising” department can’t use actual facts and reality of what they propose to deliver to back up their products, so they just fake it.

    The fact the container had absolutely no way out other than the doors which can’t be opened from inside and would have sunk the container when opened, yet Zoe is seen climbing up the side (where a boat was out of shot, obviously) free of challenge. There was no way her voice was coming over a phone line without background noise or distortion either. “It’s created a lot of buzz” & “We have made every effort to be as transparent as possible” my butt Michelle. If you wewre being totally transparent you would have printed “Stunts and call clarity portrayed in this advertisment were faked” 

    Two words: FALSE ADVERTISING! Someone sue them. Seriously. Anyone else tries that kind of crap and they’d get hauled off to the broadcasting standards or Consumers authorities. But not big, bad, monopolistic Telecom. Oh, no! One rule for them, completely different set of rules for the rest of us. 

    I’ve had enough. I’m changing telcos. I’m not going to pay $50 a month to not make any phone calls and use the phone line just for the odd bit of dail-up (your average powerbill is far more cost-use effective), while they use my money to spread bullshit.

  • reece_555

    Do they really need adds featuring Richard Hammond I seriously doubt he will be using the network any time in his life, or know anything about it.

  • zoe

    I just saw an ad where mice were wearing clothes and driving cars, and another one where a lady model had completely perfect skin and hair, and I didn’t think that either one was real. Of course she wouldn’t have been inside the container when they dropped it, that’s obvious. All ads are fake all the time. Why on earth do people care about this one so much?

  • nagrom97

    Same as above. Well DUH!

  • hampete

    @Fozzy bear: I don’t like telecom as much as the next guy, but seriously, it’s just an ad trying to bat home the idea that their network will be able to reach you no matter what. We all know Zoe is capable of very intense stunts.

    The fact that the stunt wasn’t performed per say is of no real concern, it isn’t an ad of how robust a phone (or zoe) is. That said, I would have just paid an extra couple of grand and had Richard Hammond actually drive around, somewhere to the middle of nowhere and check the phones use or some junk.

  • he

    I dont get this rubbish, What has a power boat wasting fuel on the river got to do with someone uploading something on the cellphone? When I see that advertisement on TV, I think so what! I can have a dump in the toilet quicker than it takes for someone to burn bread in the toaster.

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