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http://www.aol.com/2011/08/17/rugby-sheep-sex_n_929148.html

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- First came the idea to have bikini models 
on motorbikes drive 1,000 sheep through New Zealand's most cosmopolitan 
city. Then, the idea to urge rugby fans to abstain from sex and save their 
passion for the country's team.

New Zealand is gearing up to host the Rugby World Cup next month. But its 
promotional plans are going awry, with residents complaining that some of 
the concepts for celebrating the country's culture may just as likely 
invite ridicule.

"What were they thinking?" said Robyn Kippenberger, head of the Royal New 
Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), which 
opposed the planned sheep run.

Organizers had planned to parade the sheep and the scantily clad women 
through downtown Auckland as a climax to festivals throughout the country 
in the build-up to the World Cup final. But they canceled those plans this 
week amid outcry from Kippenberger and others.

"Maybe we try too hard," Kippenberger said.

Brian Rudman, a columnist for the New Zealand Herald newspaper, wrote that 
instead of showcasing the sophisticated culture, dining and fashion of 
Auckland, the event would have portrayed the city as a sheep-shearing 
village "on steroids."

"How can I justify the cringe factor to my family and friends living 
overseas?" a reader calling himself Rodney from Howick wrote in response 
to Rudman's column online. "What are we, all back-country hicks?" wrote 
another reader.

Kippenberger said it would have been an embarrassment if the world were to 
see images of panting, scared and possibly injured sheep clattering down 
paved streets.

Leon Grice, the director of NZ 2011 which is overseeing festival events, 
said the idea was to promote the best of New Zealand industry, from wine 
to agriculture. He said he thought the issue of animal welfare had been 
addressed previously when an Auckland SPCA officer gave the sheep run a 
thumbs-up.

He noted that sheep lovers will still be able to watch sheep-shearing 
demonstrations at Auckland's Queens Wharf during the rugby tournament.

Yet even as the sheep furor was dying down Wednesday, a second controversy 
gathered pace.

Telecom, a sponsor of New Zealand's All Blacks rugby team, has launched a 
campaign urging New Zealanders to remain chaste, in a joking reference to 
the notion that some athletes abstain from sex before big matches to 
improve performance.

The ad features former team captain Sean Fitzpatrick congratulating fellow 
New Zealanders for "selflessly stepping out into the bed chambers of this 
fine country, throwing aside your natural instincts, and your lacy 
lingerie, standing proudly in your flannelette pajamas and whispering 'I 
love you, New Zealand."

The campaign has swiftly prompted scorn, with a YouTube video of the ad 
drawing comments including "Thanks for making us a laughing stock" and 
"Abstain from Telecom."

Telecom spokesman Mark Watts said the campaign is aimed at "getting people 
talking, thinking, laughing, and stirring up some noise and color."

Tom Agee, a senior lecturer in marketing at the University of Auckland, 
said there's plenty to celebrate at the World Cup without promoters 
needing to try so hard for publicity. The All Blacks are a great team, he 
said, and New Zealand is a wonderful country with plenty to offer 
visitors. There's simply no need, he said, to resort to novelty ideas that 
could harm the country's image.

"It's a dumb idea," Agee said. "I just don't think we need to do stuff 
like this."