Aunty and Herman return to raise awareness of consumer rights

New Zealand’s sharpest legal advisor Aunty and her nephew Herman Faleafa have returned to raise awareness of consumer rights in the Commerce Commission’s animated series It’s All Good.

The It’s All Good series debuted in 2016 to provide consumers with information on borrowers’ rights following the introduction of new credit laws. Season 1 generated over 330,000 online views and is used as an educational tool by community agencies.

Season 2 sees Aunty and Herman deal with a series of common purchasing scenarios, including buying a car, returning a faulty TV and working through sales interactions with door-to-door sellers and mobile traders.

Competition General Manager Antonia Horrocks said the new series of animations was focused on highlighting issues consumers experience in a range of purchasing transactions.

“The Consumer Guarantees Act and Fair Trading Act provide a range of protections for consumers when purchasing goods or services. However, many New Zealanders are unfamiliar with their basic rights or how to enforce them,” Ms Horrocks said.

“The scenarios we are highlighting in this series are ones that we and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s consumer protection team hear regularly from consumers about. Our hope is that by watching the series New Zealanders feel better equipped to make decisions and handle any issues that might arise.

“We know from It’s All Good’s debut last year that this concept is engaging and entertaining. We will be promoting it broadly online over the next few weeks and also sending material to schools and other educators in an effort to boost awareness of consumer rights with young people as they become more active in the market place.”

The second set of six episodes picks up where the story left off last year with Herman defaulting on his car loan following a crash, leading to his furniture being repossessed. This season’s episodes cover:

Post-repossession fees and interest

• Buying a car

• Returning faulty goods

• Extended warranties

• Door-to-door sales

• Buying from mobile traders

The first four episodes of Series 2 are available now at tv.comcom.govt.nz. The final two will be released next week.

Background

It’s All Good is a show about knowing your rights... from your wrongs.

The show was developed with creative advisors Stun and support from the Ministry for Pacific Peoples and MBIE’s consumer protection team. It features New Zealand’s sharpest legal advisor Aunty and her well-meaning nephew Herman Faleafa. Herman means well but he often has his head in the clouds and doesn’t think things through when it comes to money. So he needs Aunty and others to keep his feet on the ground and money in his wallet while he learns what his rights are.

Each episode focuses on a situation that many New Zealanders will find themselves in. Aunty does her best to make sure Herman has his head on straight and knows his rights, with a few laughs along the way.

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