\u201cSome people were like, \u2018oh this is the beginning of the end, this is late-stage capitalism, this is what they\u2019re going to be doing putting ads in phone calls,\u2019 which was never the case,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sinclair said the idea was intentionally provocative.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were like, what if our customers were so willing to help us advertise Skinny that they would do the last thing you\u2019d ever want and that\u2019s put Skinny ads in their phone calls.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the criticism, more than 3000 customers chose to opt in to the campaign which ran from March through to late April, with 6.45 hours of ads played, according to a Skinny spokesperson.<\/p>\n
Advertising expert and creative director at The Goat Farm, Vaughn Davis, says while it was temporary, we might see it more permanently in the future.<\/p>\n
Vaughn Davis, owner and creative director of Auckland-based advertising and social media practice The Goat Farm. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
He said the concept reflects a shift in how consumers approach pricing and advertising.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the price for a product is having ads in it, there\u2019s an opportunity there. We already see that with free-to-air TV and radio,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re already used to having your music interrupted with ads, and often those ads are for Spotify, so you can imagine someone in an ad agency saying, \u2018what if we did that for phone calls?\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
He believes ideas like this often start as attention-grabbing stunts, similar to a fashion catwalk featuring absurd items of clothing, before becoming more normalised and mainstream further down the track.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be people who think, \u2018instead of paying $40 a month, I\u2019ll pay $5 and tolerate ads.\u2019 There could be a legitimate business model there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sinclair said the campaign is part of a broader strategy to stand out in a crowded market, where brands compete not just with each other but with \u201ceveryone on the internet\u201d.<\/p>\n
For Sinclair, success comes down to whether people are talking.<\/p>\n
\u201cAttention spans are so short, you\u2019re wasting your time if you\u2019re not trying to do something a bit spicy.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the campaign was never meant to signal a wider shift toward ads in everyday interactions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not the start of something that\u2019s going to infiltrate people\u2019s lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just another step in what a brand can do to engage, make you smile, make you laugh or make a few people think the end is nigh.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tobias Macintosh is a Newstalk ZB Multimedia Journalist, based in Wellington. He joined NZME in June 2025, after obtaining a Bachelor of Broadcasting Communications at the New Zealand Broadcasting School in Christchurch. Putting a spotlight on all things happening in and around the capital, he also has a keen eye on local politics, crime and justice, and foreign affairs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cSome people were like, \u2018oh this is the beginning of the end, this is late-stage capitalism, this is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432370,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1443,3113,52364,138,3043,1738,221351,4522,111,139,69,16792,5415,221350,65984,223,13920,4276,6730,1959],"class_list":["post-432369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-about","tag-ads","tag-beginning","tag-business","tag-call","tag-campaign","tag-dystopian","tag-feel","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-phone","tag-playing","tag-skinny","tag-telco","tag-the","tag-tried","tag-why","tag-would","tag-your"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}