KEY POINTS:
The Government has been rapped over the knuckles for a misleading advertisement of its KiwiSaver scheme.
The Advertising Standards Authority complaints board has upheld a complaint over a banner web advertisement which read, "KiwiSaver + New Zealand Super. Labour's guarantee for your retirement."
Complainant G. Rogers, who saw the advertisement on www.stuff.co.nz on June 29, wrote to the board.
"My complaint is that KiwiSaver is not government guaranteed as it [is] provided by a third party. It has been publicly stated that there is no government guarantee for the KiwiSaver scheme."
The board ruled the advert breached Rule 2 of the code of ethics, which governs truthful presentation.
A minority of the complaints board agreed with the defence offered by the Prime Minister's office (on behalf of the Labour Party) that the advertisement was a statement of party policy, but the majority disagreed.
In its ruling, the complaints board stated that "the use of the word 'guarantee' without further qualification in reference to a scheme that dealt with the financial security of consumers contained a level of ambiguity that was likely to mislead. The linkage of KiwiSaver with New Zealand Super was, in the opinion of the majority likely to convey an overall impression of guaranteed financial security."
Finance Minister Michael Cullen yesterday said Labour accepted the decision.
