Wellington International Airport in Rongotai on New Zealand’s North Island has caused outrage with its plans for a giant Wellywood sign.
The hillside sign, which would spell out Wellywood in 12-foot-high white letters in a parody of the famous Hollywood sign, has met with bitter protest from locals.
The sign would sit beside the New Zealand capital’s airport, and is intended to be a celebration of the flourishing film industry in the country. Famous supporters of the sign include the Kiwi film director Sir Peter Jackson.
More than 100 cars blocked the streets around the airport last night, in protest of the sign, which they call “tacky, unoriginal and embarrassing.”
The council have given the go-ahead to the sign, which the airport plans to install in June. Chief executive at the airport, Steve Fitzgerald, said, “The sign is definitely going ahead.
“I expect widespread support for the intent of a sign, even if a Wellywood sign isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Everyone benefits from increasing tourism for Wellington.”
However, Wellington’s Dominion Post newspaper ridiculed the airport’s argument, saying that the idea that tourism would receive a large boost from “brochures picturing a wobbly Wellywood sign on a barren hill overlooking a run-down pier is laughable.”
