Naked Queen ruled inoffensive

A nude Queen has been ruled as an acceptable form of satire, after a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority was not upheld.

The advertisement used a cartoon image of the Queen in "her birthday suit" to promote Bond & Bond's Queen's Birthday weekend sale.

Complainant C Gettins, along with a number of other complainants, objected, saying the ad showed a huge disrespect for the Head of New Zealand.

"It is rude, mocking and unacceptable in my view to depict the Head of our country in this manner."

Advertiser Noel Leeming Group Ltd disagreed, saying they believed the vast majority of the public took the advertisement as a lighthearted, humorous take on Queen's Birthday weekend.

"It was never our intention to cause offence, as we clearly do not want to offend potential customers."

The advertiser took the precaution of sending the storyboard to the Commercials Approval Bureau (CAB) for approval prior to production.

CAB also submitted to the complaint on behalf of the media, and said political satire was considered by most New Zealanders as light-hearted comedy rather than treason.

The ad contained nothing likely to cause serious or widespread offence.

"While this commercial may indeed be an 'insult to our intelligence' that in itself is not sufficient grounds to rule against it."

The authority noted the objections to the depiction of the Queen in her "birthday suit", but took into account that the sale was during Queen's Birthday weekend, a public holiday which was accompanied with a range of royal imagery in advertising.

The authority agreed that the ad did not reach the threshold to cause serious and widespread offence, and therefore did not breach the code of ethics.

- NZPA