NZ bank in free speech row over sheep memes

A bank in New Zealand has found itself at the center of an unlikely free speech row after an attempt to remove “explicit” memes about its sheep mascot from social media.

Kiwibank unveiled the mascot “Buck” this year in an ad campaign urging consumers to “bank Kiwi.”

However, the cute sheep with green wool quickly drew some unwanted attention online, with viral posts on social media alluding to Buck’s good looks — and uncharitable references to stereotypes about New Zealanders.

Sheep wait to be shorn during the Golden Shears International sheep shearing competition in Masterton, New Zealand, on March 4, 2023.

Photo: AFP

The state-owned bank responded by sending takedown requests, removing the image of Buck in the offending posts and leaving only the phrase: “this media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner.”

Users responded by barraging the platform with dozens more in its place, and the original post has now garnered more than 4 million views.

A social media user said: “what if we ALL say the kiwibank sheep is sexy. They can’t get us all.”

Commentators described it as a classic example of the so-called “Streisand effect” — in which an attempt to hide something draws even greater attention to it.

Kiwibank spokesman Ben Mabon said the company had been responding to “explicit and harmful content being shared using Buck’s image.”

“Our concern was a serious one, and we believed it was important to address it,” he said in a statement. “We recognise that the response became part of a conversation. We felt doing nothing wasn’t the right thing to do because of the harmful content.”

In an open letter to Kiwibank, New Zealand’s Free Speech Union accused the company of censorship.

“Copyright protects creative work from being copied. It does not protect a brand from being laughed at, even by people who like it a bit too much,” the letter read. “Using copyright to remove speech a company dislikes is censorship, even when the subject is a sheep.”

New Zealand has long been known for having more sheep than people, with a ratio of 4.5 sheep to every person as of last year.