Advertisement not in breach of Election Programmes code

5 September 2017

National Party election advertisement not in breach of Election Programmes broadcasting code

The BSA has not upheld a complaint that a National Party campaign advertisement featuring a group of runners dressed in blue was misleading. The Authority disagreed that the advertisement implied that the National Party was only a single party in Government, as alleged in the complaint.

The Authority found that the election programme was not in breach of the standard raised by the complainant under the Election Programmes Code – Standard E4 Misleading Programmes, which relates to programmes imitating identifiable programme formats or personalities in a manner likely to mislead. The standard is aimed at ensuring that audiences are aware they are watching political party or candidate campaign material, the Authority said.

The Authority was satisfied that the advertisement was clearly a political party advertisement advocating for the National Party.

The Authority further stated that, in any event, it did not consider that viewers would have been misled by the election programme in the manner alleged by the complainant.

‘While the runners in blue did not feature coalition party members, we consider it would have been clear to viewers that political parties will seek to promote their own party, and to earn viewers’ party vote, in any campaign material,’ the Authority said in its decision. ‘The programme did not imply that the National Party would only form a single-party Government, but rather encouraged audiences to give their party vote to National as their preferred party’, it said.

ENDS

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