Leave your fruit and veg at home

Fans heading to Eden Park on Saturday for the match between New Zealand and Australia in Auckland have been implored to leave their fruit and vegetables at home by the very people who grow them.

That's not bad marketing.

In a full-page advertisement in the New Zealand Herald, the country's commercial fruit and vegetable growers have asked cricket fans to "hit an unwelcome Aussie visitor for six!" And they don't mean the cricketers from across the ditch. They are referring to a "potentially devastating" Australian (Queensland) fruit fly - not Merv Hughes either - which was discovered in Grey Lynn, a suburb of Auckland, last week.

"This is the only time we will ask you not to eat fruit," the ad says. "New Zealand growers appeal to cricket fans - Please don't take any fruit to the big game tomorrow."

The pest, if not controlled and eradicated, could impact New Zealand's fruit, vegetable and horticulture industries. "Eden Park, the venue for Saturday's World Cup Cricket clash between Australia and New Zealand, is right on the border of the controlled area. This means no fruit and vegetable material can be taken out of the stadium," Horticulture New Zealand chief executive Peter Silcock said. "We are asking cricket fans to leave their fruit and vegetables at home when they head to the stadium. You know it must be a serious situation if we are asking people NOT to have fruit and vegetables."

Carbs and fat it is then.