August 24, 2011 1:00pm by David Farrar

Belly advertising

A few will have seen this story in Stuff:

Prime Minister John Key’s signing of Emily Beaumont’s bulging belly in Nelson yesterday was symbolic on a day it was announced the country is now in a “man drought”.

Mr Key made a flying visit to Tahunanui Beach to help launch the election campaign of his sixth-ranked Cabinet minister, Nelson MP Nick Smith.

In response to yesterday’s story in the Sunday Star Times, which said there were now 50,000 “excess” 25- to 49-year-old females living in New Zealand , Mr Key assured that “we’re doing everything we can to keep people in New Zealand and we’ll now have a specific focus on men”.

Along with his signature on Ms Beaumont’s belly, Mr Key left what he termed a marketing message.

“If it’s a boy, John’s a good name,” Mr Key wrote on the most radical thing he had ever signed.

Ms Beaumont, of Motueka, who was “due to give birth any minute”, said she would probably name her baby John if it was a boy.

Now what interested me was that the belly already had a couple of marks on it. I got a copy of the higher res version and it is below.