When New Zealand Kiwibank launched Buck, a bright green AI sheep designed to promote its services, it expected a cute and memorable marketing campaign. Instead, the mascot became a target for explicit internet humour and NSFW memes.
Unsurprisingly, Kiwibank was not happy with Buck’s sudden fame. The bank filed a series of copyright claims trying to stop people from using its mascot as the subject of NSFW memes. Following the row, the bank shared another AI video addressing the controversy. “There’s been some stuff made about me – put on the internet. Alongside the video, the bank wrote on Instagram, “Jokes aside… the internet can be a weird place. The controversy reached American late-night TV when it was picked up by John Oliver on Last Week Tonight. Alongside, Free Speech Union also criticised the bank’s response and wrote an open letter to Kiwibank CEO Steve Jurkovich.
And if you saw what I had seen, you’d be shocked,” the AI sheep says in the video, adding, “Like, really, really shocked. He called the bank’s crackdown “completely counterproductive”.
