When real estate ads go wrong | 'Buy the wife some dirt for Christmas' - Property News AU/NZ | propertynoise.co.nz & propertynoise.com.au

PHOTO: STACY SQUIRES/STUFF The ad on Ramahana Rd, Huntsbury has caused offence with some residents.

According to STUFF tacky, sexist and tone-deaf are words being used to describe a real estate ad on a Christchurch hill.

The Property Noise Group, thought the signage was creative – but in the PC world we live in now – sometimes ‘being creative’ means offending people despite any attempt to offend.

“Buy the wife some dirt for Christmas!” reads the Harcourts Holmwood sign on Huntsbury hill in Christchurch, advertising vacant land for sale near St. Martins School.

The ad, which has been up for at least a few months, began circulating on social media this week after Huntsbury locals discovered it, with one comment labelling it as a sexist piece of salesmanship better suited to the 1950s. Many comments have echoed those sentiments.

Harcourts Holmwood chief executive Tony Jenkins said he was “certainly not impressed” to discover the ad on Saturday and has spoken to the agent Foss Shanahan, who was “embarrassed.”