Interview with Prime Minister Keith Holyoake, 1963

Television first featured in a New Zealand election campaign in 1963 when the three main parties shared two hours of pre-recorded broadcasts on the four regional channels: National and Labour got 50 minutes each, and Social Credit 20 minutes. This National Party broadcast, in which Prime Minister Keith Holyoake was interviewed by Auckland University Professor John Reid, typifies the formal, staid tone of most party political advertising in the early years of television. One critic described the on-air performance of the country's politicians as similar to 'semi-animated waxworks'.