New Zealand’s universal healthcare

The ad agency, Clemenger BBDO, hired photographer Jono Rotman to help them promote New Zealand’s policy of providing free, universal healthcare. Their concept was quite simple—an image of nude bodies arranged to form the shape of the island nation. The bodies were intended to represent people injured at home each year. It may be difficult to remember the intended symbolism in Rotman’s dimly lit, subtly toned photo because the picture is so darn sexy. In the Gisborne region, the curve of a woman’s hip sits snug against a man’s muscular chest; somewhere slightly north of Auckland we find the elongated curve of a voluptuous brown leg. Here, the sensual tangle of multi-ethnic arms; calves, chests and torsos might seem—to an American’s eyes, at least—more like high-class erotica than health-care marketing.