'Mr Potato' party pill ad pulled

A party pill company has withdrawn posters featuring two Mr Potato Head characters because of concerns it could mislead children.

The concerns were taken to the Advertising Standards Complaints Board, which has backed the complaint.

The posters, which had an R18 rating, carried the heading "Sit on the couch and get mashed!"

One of the potato characters had lost its eyes and nose to the bottom of the picture and the other's eyes had slipped below its nose and mouth.

In a decision just released, the board noted that while the company, Energy Products Ltd, had voluntarily withdrawn the posters, the incident raised some serious matters.

The complainant, J Dean, said that while the posters were inside a shop for people over 18, they were visible from the street in shops in Dunedin and Oamaru.

The complainant felt the use of the Mr Potato Head character "to promote mind-altering substances is entirely inappropriate".

Energy Products said its use of the potato figures was "simply a play on words" for the product, called Mash

"We would not have thought there would in any way be a belief we are targeting [under-3 year olds] with a product that is clearly R18 and sold in R18 premises."

But the Advertising Standards Complaint Board said posters ran the risk of being visible to a wide range of age groups.

It considered the ad in the light of advertising codes for children and therapeutic products and found it did not live up to high standards required for therapeutic products.

It also noted that the current ban on advertising party pills in some media did not extend to posters.

- NZPA