Brewery sees light over ad complaint

DB has helped Bethlehem Community Church develop a new advertising campaign. Photo / Supplied

A church that had to change a billboard because DB complained it breached the trademark of the Tui beer's "yeah right" advertising campaign has received a good deed from the New Zealand brewing giant.

DB's lawyer last week asked Bethlehem Community Church in Tauranga to take down a sign in the familiar Tui format which read: "Atheists have nothing to worry about - yeah right!".

It was part of a campaign the church had run for eight years.

The move sparked debate over whether the church had the right to use the billboard but it was taken down a week ago.

Yesterday, DB announced that it had paid advertising firm Saatchi's to design some draft billboards for the church to use.

Reverend Jim Wallace said he had taken the six designs, which he described as clever and "edgy", to a signwriter yesterday for quotes before the church knew what would fit within its limited signs and advertising budget.

The church hoped to eventually use all the designs, but would work with what it could afford.

Rev Wallace said the draft options included one similar to the one that had been taken down. It read: "If there were no God, there would be no atheists."

"It's a bit of a brain teaser, that one, because you think about it, don't you?" he said.

"And it's correct on a couple of levels. And there's another one that says: 'God only answers kneemail'. There's one that goes: 'This church is under 24-hour surveillance' ... and another one: 'Don't wait for a hearse to take you to church'.

"Another one says: 'Even God tweets too, just look up into the trees.' That one appeals to those who are doing their Twittering."

Rev Wallace said another read: "God is the ultimate search engine."

"There's no way that we could have afforded Saatchi's to do any mock-up designs for us. I think it's very generous of Tui. It's good publicity for them but having said that I think they were sincere in helping us. We're very appreciative of their generosity."

The move was initiated by Tui marketing manager Jarrod Bear, who said the church's intentions were honest, but unfortunately copycat versions of the Tui ads were appearing around the country and causing an increasing number of complaints.

"In the church's instance there are no hard feelings and we're pleased to be able to help them out. I've also offered to shout the Reverend a Tui sometime and he's invited us to visit him next time we're in Tauranga. I'm looking forward to both."