ASA - Advertising Standards Authority

The following decisions have been published:

Complaint 18/299 Appeal 18/021 Seafood New Zealand Television: Appeal Allowed, Complaint Upheld
Complaint 18/331 Qigong Self healing and Life Cultivation Centre, Digital Marketing: Upheld
Complaint 18/428 Alt NZ, Television: Upheld – Advertisements removed
Complaint 19/031 NZ Sale, Digital Marketing: Upheld
Complaint 19/024 VTNZ, Television, No Grounds to Proceed
Complaint 19/032 Eden Orchards, Unaddressed Mail: Settled – Advertisement removed
Complaint 19/033 Great Lake Motors, Television: No Grounds to Proceed
Complaint 19/034 NZ Racing Board, TAB, Television: Not Upheld
Complaint 19/035 Greenpeace, Billboard: Upheld
Complaint 19/040 Mobil NZ, Addressed Mail: Not Upheld
Complaint 19/042 Health Promotion Agency, Digital Marketing: No Grounds to Proceed
Complaint 19/044 Lord of the Fries, Instore: No Grounds to Proceed
Complaint 19/049 Momentum Life, Television: No Grounds to Proceed
Complaint 19/051 Hud App, Digital Marketing: Settled – Advertisement removed
Complaint 19/052 Moet Hennessy, Digital Marketing: Settled – Advertisement removed
Complaint 19/053 Do Terra, Unaddressed Mail: Settled – Advertisement removed
Complaint 19/056 Family First, Billboard: Not Upheld
Complaint 19/057 Spark NZ and Outline, Digital Marketing: No Grounds to Proceed
Complaint 19/059 Dairy NZ, Radio: No Grounds to Proceed
Complaint 19/060 The Salvation Army, Television: No Grounds to Proceed
Complaint 19/061 NZ Transport Agency, Television: No Grounds to Proceed
Complaint 19/063 Vodafone NZ, Digital Marketing: No Grounds to Proceed
Complaint 19/064 Family First, Billboard: No Grounds to Proceed
Complaint 19/069 Speak for Women, Poster: No Grounds to Proceed
Complaint 19/070 Speak for Women, Poster: No Grounds to Proceed
Complaint 19/072 Homecare Medical, Quitline, Television: No Grounds to Proceed
Complaint 19/078 Intergrace, Digital Marketing: Settled – Advertisement Amended
Complaint 19/079 Kindred Chiropractic, Addressed Mail: Settled – Advertisement removed
Complaint 19/080 Subway NZ Ltd, Television: No Grounds to Proceed
Complaint 19/081 Skycity, Television: No Grounds to Proceed
Complaint 19/082 McDonalds and Uber Eats, Television: No Grounds to Proceed
Complaint 19/083 ASB, Television: No Grounds to Proceed
Complaint 19/087 Bank of New Zealand, Television: No Grounds to Proceed
Complaint 19/091 Unilever Australasia, Lynx, Television: No Grounds to Proceed
Complaint 19/092 Health Promotion Agency, Television: No Grounds to Proceed
Complaint 19/093 Lion, Corona, Television: No Grounds to Proceed
Complaint 19/098 Mr Rental, Radio: No Grounds to Proceed

Therapeutic Claims Must Be Substantiated

There were four “Get Free” television advertisements for Alt New Zealand, each with a theme: “Get Fit”, “Get Old”, “Get Young” and “Get Rich”. Each of the ads had visual imagery illustrating the theme, as well as text. The text on each of the ads said: “Get Free, Get Fit. Stop smoking and your lung capacity can increase by up to 30%.”; “Stop smoking and you could save $7000 Dollars a Year”; “Stop smoking and you could add 10 years to your life expectancy.”; “Stop smoking before you’re 25 and your lungs can regenerate.”

There were three complaints about these advertisements. The Complainants said advertisements for vaping should come under the same rules as advertisements for tobacco, and it is not proven that vaping is safe or healthy.

The Advertiser said it is legal to advertise electronic cigarettes in New Zealand. The advertisements promote the alt. as an alternative to smoking, but do not make any specific claims or statements regarding the financial or health benefits of using the alt. as opposed to smoking.

A majority of the Complaints Board said the advertisements were making therapeutic claims and the phrase “Get Free”, along with the accompanying imagery, refers to giving up smoking (which for some people is an addiction) with the help of Alt. This implies Alt is a smoking cessation product that has a therapeutic benefit of alleviating smoking addiction. The majority of the Complaints Board said these claims had not been substantiated.

Therefore, the Complaints Board ruled the complaints were Upheld.

Advocacy Ad Misleading

The billboard advertisement for Greenpeace said “Ravensdown and Balance Pollute Rivers”. Below this, to the left of the billboard and in smaller letters, was “#TooManyCows”. To the right of the billboard was the Greenpeace logo.

There were three complaints about this billboard stating it made a false claim. One Complainant said it is the farmers who are polluting the rivers, not the fertiliser producers. Another Complainant said there wasn’t evidence to back up this claim, and ‘#toomanycows’ is an opinion not a fact.

The Advertiser said the environmental impacts of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser are both direct and indirect. The direct impact occurs from the application of the fertiliser itself, the indirect impact occurs from the intensification of farming that is enabled by the application of synthetic nitrogen. The Advertiser said Ravensdown and Balance sell 98% of all fertilisers used in New Zealand.

A majority of the Complaints Board said the advertisement was misleading because the message was over-simplified and potentially unclear. A minority of the Complaints Board said in the context of advocacy advertising Greenpeace had provided sufficient substantiation to support its view. In accordance with the majority, the Complaints Board ruled the complaint was Upheld.