KEY POINTS:
A Tui billboard saying "When Winston says no, he means no - Yeah, right" has brought a warning that it may breach the Electoral Finance Act.
The billboard is in the Tauranga electorate Winston Peters is desperate to win, and the Electoral Commission told the Herald it would write to brewers Tui saying it could be "election advertising" against him.
If the billboard does fall within the definition of election advertising, it will be illegal because it does not carry an authorising statement, thus earning a potential fine of $10,000.
DB Breweries - which owns Tui - could also have breached the law because it has not listed as a third party.
People and organisations are required to list if spending more than $1000 on candidate advertising or $12,000 on party advertising.
Tui brand manager Jarrod Bear said the brewer had not received any correspondence from the Electoral Commission and was not considering taking the billboard down.
Asked if Tui was aware of the legislation when it came up with the billboard, Mr Bear said, "Not particularly, no, not the finer details of it.
"It sounds a little bit crazy and it's definitely not our intention to be campaigning in favour of one or the other.
"We just like to poke a bit of fun, especially at those who make the rules and are seen to be bending them. It's definitely not our intention to be campaigning."
The possibility that Tui billboards making satirical political references would breach the act was raised while it was being put through Parliament last year. Whether the Tui billboard is an election advertisement depends on whether it can reasonably be seen as trying to persuade people either to vote for Mr Peters, or against him.
The billboard is also up in six other locations from Auckland to Southland.
Commission spokesman Peter Northcote said it was aware of the billboards and would warn Tui regardless of whether it received a complaint.
"We are certainly planning to write to the brewery to make sure that they are aware of the Electoral Finance Act and the implications for election advertising and also third-party listing if they were to be carrying out election advertising.
"We will just be making sure that they are aware of the law, which is what we said we would do if we saw anyone who without [knowing they] may be crossing the line might be at risk of inadvertently doing so."
The billboards' nationwide spread means they could be seen as merely coverage of a contemporary issue.
Mr Northcote said the commission would assess whether the billboards had breached the act only if a complaint was received.
