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All Blacks receive some tastebud torture with Air New Zealand’s lolly gotcha

The Air New Zealand lollies are something of an institution in this country and many a Kiwi kid has had the pleasure of delivering them at the end of a flight. Now it’s planning on adding a new rugby-themed flavour to the roster so it played a bit of an early April Fool’s day prank on a few All Blacks in the form of a taste test. 

As part of a #crazyaboutrugby campaign for its new commemorative All Blacks lolly, Air New Zealand and True invited Kevin Mealamu, Ben Smith and Aaron Smith to test different flavour options for a lolly that was meant to have the “essence of the All Blacks”. But the airline took this very literally and the players got “a little more than they bargained for”. 

Air New Zealand hired an actor to play the role of a confectioner and he proceeded to give them awful flavours to sample. Without getting any hints on the flavours, the three All Blacks had to give their opinion. At first, they feigned enjoyment while slightly wrinkling their noses, but they could only keep that up for so long.

Aaron Smith described one lolly as tasting “limey” or “green” before being told it was made with grass from Eden Park mixed with other herbs and “subtle chi type flavours”.

The last lolly appeared to be the hardest to stomach and they all quickly realised the taste they were picking up was liniment (something rugby players only generally have to taste at end of season court sessions or on the bottom of a ruck). 

The real flavours Air New Zealand is choosing from for its lollies are liquorice, blackcurrant and grape and the airline is giving the public the option to vote online. At the time of writing blackcurrant is in the lead at 50 percent, then liquorice at 26 percent with grape following close behind at 24 percent (maybe they should have a vote on the other snacks they give out while they’re at it because no-one wants cassava chips in the morning). 

Air New Zealand Spokesperson Imogen Dennis says the airline purposely released the video in time for April Fool’s Day. She says the real flavours from Horners Confectionery are delicious and the public will be able to vote on their preferred flavour until Friday 17 April. Voting is available here.

The video, which was shot by Darryl Ward from Curious, has been pushed out over Facebook, Twitter and Air New Zealand’s website.

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