John Tamihere mayoral campaign ad 'misleading', advertising authority rules

Saturday, 22 June 2019

A radio ad for Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere has been deemed 'misleading' by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). 

The ad, which aired on Newstalk ZB, claimed Auckland mayor Phil Goff was 'letting Auckland Transport cut the speed on 700kms of roads to just 30km/hour'.

'No suburb will escape this crazy plan,' it claimed. 

A complaint was laid with the ASA, saying the ad was misleading as the AT proposal was to reduce speed limits to between 30 to 80kmh, depending on where you live, not to a blanket 30kmh.

**READ MORE:

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Responding to ASA, the advertiser said they 'did not have time to say that in 30 seconds'.

The complaint board noted that 'Auckland Transport said less than 72km of road in the Auckland region is proposed to have a speed limit of 30 km/hour'.

Mayor Phil Goff said he welcomed the complaint being upheld by the ASA.

'The people of Auckland expect those running for political office to be truthful and act with integrity – not resort to fake news and fake advertising,' he said. 

'I hope this is a good reminder to Mr Tamihere to clean up his act.'

NZME, which owns Newstalk ZB, told ASA its advertisers were responsible for ensuring their advertisements can be substantiated.

'Notwithstanding that, we are cognizant of the fact that we too have a responsibility as a broadcaster to ensure that the public is not misled.'

It said the ad had been removed from broadcast and its advertising team had been reminded to be 'vigilant' to prevent this happening again.