School gets in the way of the message

Smokefree advertisement on the rear of a bus with rugby player Piri Weepu. Photo / Supplied

The decision to put smokefree advertisements on the back of school buses has thrown up another blooper.

The latest Smoking Not Our Future advert features All Black Piri Weepu next to a bus "school" sign - changing the message to: "What gave you the idea that smoking was cool? School."

It is the second blunder featuring school bus advertising for the Health Sponsorship Council. Another advert featured Shortland St star Ben Mitchell with the unintended message: "Take action, take control, quit school."

Council spokesman Iain Potter said as the adverts were due to be replaced anyway they would not be taken down. But he said future campaigns would be given the "blooper test".

"It's not a bad thing to be able to laugh, is it? But we've probably extracted enough humour out of this campaign. Probably to some extent we would rely on the company that places them ... and the bus company to run the appropriateness test, or the blooper test."

Advertising had been targeted to bus routes young people would use, but not school buses specifically.

"Next time we'll be thinking about how it works on the back of the bus."