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The New Zealand electrical retailer that enraged American campaigner Erin Brockovich by comparing women to fridges has been slammed for another cheeky ad encouraging people to get into debt.
A Bond and Bond advertisement urging people to increase New Zealand's level of personal debt has been ruled socially irresponsible by the Advertising Standards Authority.
The flyer offered various "killer deals" with a message saying: "NZ has the 3rd highest level of personal debt, help us get to No. 1."
The complaint was laid by V. Smith from the Invercargill Budget Advisory Service.
"As the committee of an organisation which constantly sees people with huge debts they have no way of paying and the ripple effects this has in people's lives, we find the wording of this advert socially irresponsible and believe it breaches the Advertising Code of Ethics," Smith said.
Bond and Bond said its advertising campaign featured wording which was "cheeky with an irreverent tone".
"We do not believe the wording was offensive, and it is certainly not our intention to cause offence to any member of the public," it said.
But the authority upheld the complaint, saying the advertisement was in breach of Basic Principle 4 of the Code of Ethics by not meeting "a due sense of social responsibility".
However, it did not breach Rule 5 of the Code of Ethics, because it did not "cause serious or widespread offence in the light of generally prevailing community standards".
Noel Leeming Group chief executive Andrew Dutkiewicz said yesterday he was surprised at the decision.
"The concept of saying 'let's get to number one' is, in the New Zealand psyche, about trying to be the best and it was just done in a funny way. It's not our intention to go out there and offend."
Bond and Bond was forced last year by American campaigner Erin Brockovich to withdraw an advertisement that said: "Government says fridges are better younger. Just like women really."
Brockovich, who fronts a television advertising campaign for Bond and Bond's sister company Noel Leeming, described the advertisement as inappropriate, in poor taste and reflecting poorly on women.
A South Auckland budget adviser, who spoke to the Herald yesterday following the release of the decision, said the advertisement was irresponsible, and had caused offence.
"This type of irresponsible advertising is offensive to the wider community and in particular to professional budgeting services like ours who work on a day to day basis in educating and advocating for lower income and vulnerable families throughout South Auckland," said Mangere Budgeting and Family Support Services chief executive Darryl Evans.
