Whanganui's mayoral candidates have gone from the podium to the passenger's seat in a unique twist of the popular YouTube sensation Carpool Karaoke.
The candidates have appeared in videos produced by Kiri Wilson and Jay Rerekura from Yeah Hard at Nga Tai O Te Awa - a Māori Development Organisation focused on youth and drugs, problem gambling and suicide prevention in a bid to add some flavour to the Whanganui election debate.
"All the candidates are already on the internet and people can listen to their policies, but people won't necessarily get to know their character," Mr Rerekura says.
"That was the key for us because a candidate's character is just as important as what they stand for."
The segments took their inspiration from The Late Late Show with James Corden, in which he sings along with famous artists like Adele and Justin Bieber.
Each of the five mayoral candidates spent about 20 minutes driving with the Yeah Hard team, and the videos were then edited down to three minute pieces.
Mr Rerekura says so far the local reaction has been positive.
"Everyone takes something different from it," he says.
"That was the whole point of it; for people to make their own judgements based on the character of the candidate and their morals.
"A lot of what people were saying was, 'I didn't know this person was like that, it turns out they're cool people.'"
The videos are available to watch on Yeah Hard's Facebook page.
Newshub.
