AUNZ Work of The Week: Motion Sickness and Whānau Ora

In a powerful move to boost Māori political participation, activist Tāme Iti fronts New Zealand's longest-ever advertisement -- a 30-minute roll call of 500 Māori voters' names -- urging unenrolled Māori people to join the electoral roll before the 2025 election. The campaign, created by Motion Sickness for Whānau Ora, is a bold reimagining of voter mobilisation tactics.

With 129,000 Māori currently unenrolled and 268,000 on the general roll, the initiative highlights how switching to the Māori electoral roll could increase dedicated parliamentary seats.

The minimalist campaign features Tāme Iti solemnly reciting names against a poutama-patterned stage inspired by the Beehive building in Parliament.

The campaign's scale includes the marathon 30-minute ad (complete with tea break), targeted OOH displays showing local enrolled names, influencer participation from Taika Waititi and others, and a microsite for easy enrollment.

The campaign is a success in its culturally-grounded activism, which meets strategic communications. Centring the simple but profound act of name-recitation – a deeply Māori cultural practice – the work transforms electoral enrollment from a bureaucratic process to a collective ceremony. The 30-minute format itself makes a statement: this isn't about snappy soundbites, but the weight of history and community.

The symbolism is deliberately crafted, from the poutama (stairway) pattern representing progress, to the Beehive-inspired set connecting directly to political power structures. Most importantly, it flips traditional voter emphasis on individual action to frame enrollment as whānau responsibility. When Tāme Iti asks "Will you answer the call?", he invokes generations of Māori activism.

Potential challenges remain: the minimalist approach risks losing viewers accustomed to polished political messaging, and the long-form content demands rare attention spans. Yet in an era of scrollable apathy, that very disruption becomes the point. As both art and activism, the ‘Māori Roll Call’ doesn't just ask for participation -- it makes non-participation feel culturally inconceivable.