11 February 2011

Progressive Party leader and MP for Wigram Jim Anderton has scored a victory in his formal complaint against a beer advertising campaign that misrepresented historical facts.

The complaint against DB Breweries Export Beer campaign ‘How to lose an Election', was upheld in relation to the television, cinema and website advertisements. It wrongly used actual footage taken from the 1951 Waterfront Lock-Out riots to portray significant civil unrest, in response to Nordmeyer’s 1958 Budget, none of which actually happened.

“The Advertising Standards Authority complaints board has ruled against the television, cinema and website advertisements as well as arguments put forward by the advertiser and requested that the advertisements in their present form be withdrawn.

“It is true that there was a negative public reaction to the budget that increased beer and tobacco prices, but there were no riots and to imply there were is misleading, deceptive and does not reflect our history with any accuracy”, said Jim Anderton.

In its deliberation, the Complaints Board reviewed and upheld Jim Anderton’s complaint that ‘the presentation of the footage in the television, cinema and website advertisements from the 1951 waterfront dispute and lockout was both wrong and misleading’.

The board further judged the footage in the advertisements ‘demonstrably false’ and considered ‘the execution of ‘documentary type’ style, contrasting black and white screen-shots and accompanying authoritative narration coupled with actual footage of riots (from a different historical event) gave the impression that the advertisements were portraying a credible and realistic depiction of history’.

It was agreed the advertisements ‘went too far and the likely consumer conclusion was that the account portrayed in the advertisements was an accurate depiction of history, when it was no such thing’.

“The beer brewing company is effectively warning politicians not to regulate beer. The liquor industry seems to be making barbed threats with these advertisements, which through its own admission, were planned during the same period when the Law Commission was looking at reforming liquor legislation and receiving public submissions on tighter controls over its advertising”, says Jim Anderton.

ENDS

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