Advertising Hobson’s Pledge: Advertising Standards Authority partly confirms complaints about Herald advertising

Complaints about a Hobson’s Pledge advertisement published in the Herald of New Zealand have been partly confirmed by the Advertising Standards Authority.

The lobby group’s two-page ad, published on the newspaper’s front and back pages on August 7, calls for restoring “the foreshore and seabed to public ownership.” It included a map of New Zealand, an image of a beach ball on the sand next to a ‘beach closed’ sign and a comment on customary marine titles.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has received more than 672 complaints about advertising and a decision published today has partially upheld some of these complaints.

The ASA complaint committee said the identity and position of the advertiser, Hobson’s Pledge, was clear. A majority of board members said advocacy advertising did not meet the threshold required to violate the rules of “decency and offense” or “fear and distress.”

However, the council said: “Certain claims made in the advertisement were materially misleading as to the effect of customary maritime title and, therefore, the advertisement was not socially responsible. »