Website ordered to remove ad lampooning Telecom

Telecom says the spoof ad breached copyright.

Telecom has stopped an international website from distributing a spoof advertisement that has children pouring bile on the company instead of praise.

But barring the US-based YouTube video site from being able to provide the ad for download is unlikely to stop it appearing elsewhere.

Telecom's original ad had children praising the company. The alternative version has them saying things such as they've been "shafted" by the company.

A young boy says: "Telecom has tricked us and that's really ******".

The video kicks off with the words of chief executive Theresa Gattung, taken from an address she made earlier this year when she said confusion in the telco business had helped companies keep prices up.

Her remarks, that on some level "customers know that's what the game has been", drew widespread criticism on top of the company's woes in the lead-up to the Budget, when details of the Government's loop unbundling package was leaked to the company.

Telecom spokesman John Goulter denied the spoof was removed because it was unflattering, saying it would "probably" have taken the action it did anyway.

"YouTube on its site has a statement that it does not endorse breaching of copyright, so we did feel that that ad did breach copyright," he said.

"So we asked them in line with that policy of theirs to take it down, and they did."

The company had "invested a lot" in its brand.

"We're very careful about how it's used. But that would be about all we have to say really," he said.

On his Public Address website, technology and media commentator Russell Brown called Telecom's move "stupid".

The clip was still appearing, he said, urging readers to visit a website to download it "while you can".

YouTube sent emails to subscribers saying anyone downloading the spoof video risked having their YouTube account "deleted".