APRIL FOOL!
Daring Dunedin residents can swim starkers this morning as part of a marketing campaign presenting the city as wild, fun and cheeky.
A film and photography crew will be in action at the St Clair Hot Salt Water Pool and city residents have been invited to take part in the risque venture.
Police said they had been assured the event would be well controlled and that it would be a safe space.
Destination Dunedin marketing campaign director Seymour Boddie said the city was well known for its attractive landscapes and heritage, and the initiative was designed to complement this.
"Dunedin is the wildlife capital of New Zealand and we reckon the human inhabitants are pretty wild, too," Mr Boddie said.
Images would be tasteful and they would be curated for Dunedin’s contribution to International Nudity Day on May 6, he said.
It was hoped cool temperatures might prevent residents from indulging in expressions of solidarity across the city.
The initiative had been kept secret until now because officials were worried things might get out of hand.
Ōtepoti Naturists confirmed some of its members were likely to attend.
Dunedin Decency Society executive director Rudea Wakening said the campaign was, at best, morally ambiguous.
"To be honest, it’s stark raving mad," he said.
"When you strip back the unadorned nonsense about it being fun or whatever, it presents Dunedin as really quite shallow.
"They’ve got a real cheek inflicting this on us."
The pool was closed to the public briefly yesterday to allow the crew to test equipment and for a few people to take part in a rehearsal.
The Dunedin City Council confirmed it had received "mixed" feedback about this, but a spokesman said the council had nothing to do with the venture, other than making the facility available on commercial terms.
St Clair resident Mavis Mooney (73) said she could see into the pool facility from her property with a pair of binoculars.
"I mean, obviously I won’t be using them," she said.
The Students Against Shaming Society (Sass) backed the venture.
"We encourage people of all shapes and sizes to get down there."
Prospective participants were asked to form an orderly queue, fully clothed, at 10am.
The pool would close at noon.
