Last week I jokingly (well half-jokingly) told my Kiwi coworkers
that living in New Zealand is like living in the 90s, only with iPhones.
They retorted and initially thought this was a comment that they should
be offended by, but I needed time to explain. Think about the two
anchors in that comment, the 90s and iPhones. For someone my age who
enjoyed growing up, the 90s was the best era of all. Good music, good clothes, good
era of sports, carefree life, etc. And I'd have to say my iPhone has increased my
quality of life. I wrote this blog only because my iphone was accessible
to me when I laid in bed unable to sleep at 3am. Anyway, So does that
make New Zealand the best place to live? I can elaborate on the whole
"why NZ is like living in the 90s", both pros and cons.
The right car owning philosophy
New Zealanders still drive cars from the 90s. Ok, not all of them, but
more than you'd think. I would say the average age of a car on the road is 15 years. I think this is pretty sweet. It is either the
fact that people would rather spend money on more important things in life
(like maybe a good outdoor activity like surfing) or all Kiwis are too
poor to afford a newer car. I think they just prefer to "drive it til it
dies" which I admire for a car owning strategy. After all it's just the
thing that gets you from point A to point B and anything above that is just icing on the cake.
HURRY INTO STORES NOW!!!!!
Secondly (and unfortunately) advertising in New Zealand is also stuck in
the 90s. Tally and I were talking about this over the weekend. There
is limited to no creativity in the marketing world here (apart from the
couple clever commercials I've listed below). Advertising strategies on
the TV and radio mainly consist of yelling and talking very quickly and
informing the potential customer that they must hurry into the store to
earn double the worthless rewards points and get interest free financing
that is available all the time anyway and at every other appliance and
electronics store. Which brings me to my next point that online shopping
here is "cutting edge" for NZ companies. Come on guys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gnfcdOZTsc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlqxpipEaq8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtWirGxV7Q8
Oh, and other non-creative advertising includes but is not limited to:
having the cheesiest rhyming jingle that includes your company's name
(which is also a cheesy play on words) in the hope that people will not
change the radio station / TV channel to avoid hearing a really, really annoying jingle.
Where's the "stuff"?
People here generally live with and, function with, less "stuff". This is
probably a combination of the fact that consumer products are expensive
here (aka everything) and that NZ isn't bombarded by such a wide array
of complete and useless (cheap) crap that plagues us in the US. Kiwis
generally hold on to possessions, see it as an investment and take
proper care of it (see cars comment above).
The latest in fast food
And finally a random observation on why NZ is still stuck in the 90s.
Fast food chains are booming here. Of course McDonalds, KFC, and a
couple others have been established for a while, but some of the
classics are just popping up.
For instance, Carl's Jr just arrived in NZ (more widely known as
Hardee's back home in Iowa). Coincidently Carl's Jr had most of its
success in the US in the 90s. I also have happy memories of eating at
Hardees growing up in the 90s. An American source here in NZ tells me
that the line for Carl's Jr on a Friday night in downtown Auckland
stretched out into the street with Carl's Jr virgins. Glad America can
continue to contribute to New Zealand's drive to obesity.
Moral of the story
So there's no real moral of the story here, just the fact that, yes there are some inconveniences to living in the
90s (in NZ) but I can live with them. So New Zealand, please don't change, stay
stuck in the 90s.
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