KEY POINTS:
Air New Zealand in Samoa has pulled two of three TV adverts after a local counselling agency said they could encourage suicide.
Faataua le Ola (FLO), a lifeline agency in Samoa, raised the issue after it received reports from some viewers who dubbed the commercials as "suicide ads".
One commercial features a man at his desk in an office building about six storeys high. After sighing in distress he gets up, runs through a window and jumps out.
A view of his descent is followed by a flight over New Zealand, ending in a rest home where the character is shown meeting an elderly woman.
Director of FLO Ofeira Manutai Salevao said the commercials insinuated suicide among youth and made leaping off of a building look like a pleasant experience.
The three controversial commercials with the same concept were broadcast on Samoan television for over four weeks at an average of six spots a night.
Mrs Salevao said: "As director of FLO I am very disappointed at the commercials. It will have a very big impact youth struggling with their emotions.
"There are thousands of young people in Samoa struggling and depressed and in some cases all they are waiting for is confirmation of an option."
Mrs Salevao said the advertisement highlighted yet another form of suicide that youth in such situations might consider.
"It will only lead to contagion or copycat suicide, where people under such pressure will see it being done and then do it themselves."
Mrs Salevao criticised the concept of the commercial, saying there are probably better ways to advertise the airline that would not have a negative impact on young people.
She felt there was more cause for concern after being told that a 10-year-old girl called the commercial the "suicide ad".
"If a child is interpreting it in that respect then obviously it has a strong contagion element, it is not healthy," she said.
General manager of Air New Zealand for Samoa Ricky McFall agreed there were grounds for concern and said the ad had been stopped. The "generic ad" was supplied by the airline office in New Zealand for the region and meant to be screened for a short period.
"We recognise it may have a negative impact, but we learn from our mistakes and we have withdrawn the commercials," he said.
Samoa had a high level of suicide in the early 1990s, but FLO said there had been a significant drop in the past five years because of better awareness and suicide-prevention methods.
* Air NZ has no plans to cut the advertisements in New Zealand.
"We've received a lot of positive feedback from New Zealand viewers about our new 'Amazing Journeys' brand campaign," spokeswoman Pamela Wong said.
"All three advertisements comply with the guidelines set out by New Zealand's Advertising Standards Authority and were all approved by TVCAB (Television Commercial Approvals Bureau) to go on air in New Zealand."
