New Zealand nurses halt offensive Lion beer ad campaign

March 17, 2003 -- In February 2003, New Zealand's largest brewer, Lion, began an advertising campaign for its popular Lion Red beer which involved female "nurses" in short dresses with the company's logo affixed on a red cross sewn onto the fronts and buttocks of the uniform. Reportedly, these "nurses" were to "entertain" spectators at an international rugby match in which the NZ Rugby Sevens team would be playing in Wellington, the capital city. New Zealand's Capital and Coast District Health Board (CCDHB) nursing chief Anita Bamford led the attack against this degrading campaign. Ms. Bamford was incensed that women dressed as nurses would be used to sell alcohol when real nurses spend so much of their time repairing damage caused by alcohol abuse. She and other Kiwi nurses mounted an effective grassroots effort against the ad campaign, and Lion canceled it within days. An Auckland radio station named Ms. Bamford "Person of the Week" for her strong work in ending the campaign. We give our highest commendation to Ms. Bamford and the other NZ nurses who came together to stop this negative treatment of the nursing profession. Read the New Zealand Herald's article about their efforts.

May 2003 -- The Center has reached Ms. Bamford on the telephone and we have recruited her to our board of directors in light of her considerable nursing advocacy efforts.