Greens' advert too close for comfort

The Greens made changes to the original ad - the % sign and font of Pure are now different.

The Green Party has been forced to alter its political advert after a complaint from Tourism New Zealand that it was too similar to their 100 per cent Pure campaign.

The Greens have been running a series of ads declaring New Zealand to be "5 per cent Pure" - a parody of the Tourism NZ brand.

The Greens' ads, which were launched last Friday in conjunction with the party's environmental policy, included pictures of polluted waterways, explaining that 95 per cent of the country's lowland rivers are unsafe for swimming or drinking, and used the slogan "Let's clean it up".

But Tourism NZ decided the ads were too similar and paid a visit to the Greens on Monday to request that they change them.

Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said Tourism NZ "very strongly pressured" the Greens to alter the ad.

"Their primary concern was loss of control over their trademark.

"Apparently if they are seen to accept one person using their trademark, then they can't stop other people doing it."

The Greens relented and made small changes - namely to the font of the word "Pure" and shape of the per cent sign, so that the 100 per cent Pure trademark was not breached.

"We don't want a big scrap about trademarks," said Ms Fitzsimons. "We want to have a scrap about why so little is being done to clean up our rivers."

A spokeswoman for Tourism NZ confirmed that the Government agency was in ongoing discussions with the Green Party, but would not comment further.

Tourism NZ has registered the trademark 100 per cent Pure with the Intellectual Property Office.

Ms Fitzsimons said they had now changed their ad so it did not breach the trademark, but would still act as a parody of the 100 per cent Pure campaign.

"It is time we started living up to that 100 per cent Pure image rather than just using it as though it was true and to disguise just how dirty our rivers are," she said.

* The Green Party launched its children's policy yesterday, which focuses on eliminating child poverty by 2010.

The party also wants to repeal Section 59 of the Crimes Act - the provision that gives parents a defence for using "reasonable force" when disciplining their children.