Tauranga election: Advertising Standards Authority rules council ad was not misleading

The Advertising Standards Authority has dismissed complaints a Tauranga City Council advertisement about the upcoming election was “misleading”.

The advertisement was printed in the Bay of Plenty Times on April 29 and encouraged people to stand for the council, referencing the “hiring” of candidates.

It prompted three complaints to the authority’s complaints board, which released its decision yesterday.

The advertisement was headed: “This is what it takes to run a city: Is it you?” Its first line said: “The future of our city could be in your hands. In July this year, Tauranga votes for new city leaders for the first time in nearly five years.” It included a call to action to stand for election and referred to “elected members” and “candidates” along with the words, “Now hiring: intelligent, passionate and caring people to run this city”, plus details of dates and where to find more information.

Complaints alleged the advertisement breached the authority’s codes for truthful presentation and advocacy advertising.

The first complaint stated the council “should not be ‘hiring’ new councillors – they’re not going to be ‘staff’”.

“This ad is demeaning and disgraceful.”

It also claimed the commissioners would interview each applicant and questioned if this was “for the purpose of undue influence?”.

The second complainant listed five issues: the advertisement showed “no respect” and did not represent the process correctly as councillors were voted in, not hired; the text tried “to manipulate the type of candidate the council would like to see stand”; there was “undue influence” happening and the council was “trying to mould the prospective councillors”; the council was doing “too much” and should be “hands off” after announcing the election; the council was trying to influence the electoral process and use of the word “hiring” indicated it would “control” the elected councillors.

The third complainant stated the advertisement “blatantly misrepresents the democratic election process” and requested a printed apology.

A response from the council said the advertisement was not misleading and denied it sought to exert undue influence or manipulate candidate hopefuls. Rather, it described attributes that would “assist” those elected in running and managing a city the size of Tauranga.

“The advertisement is intended to use tongue-in-cheek humour targeted at mature adults of legal voting age,” the council stated.

While it regretted the complainants were upset, the council said the target audience had enough knowledge and intelligence to understand councillors were not hired and that the language was “designed to convey in a humourous way the message that important council elections are coming up”.

The council also stated the number of complaints was small compared to the newspaper’s readership and this supported the view the advertisement was not misleading, did not breach authority codes and rather had been prepared with a “due sense of social responsibility”.

Bay of Plenty Times publisher NZME responded that it did not believe the advertisement contravened the authority’s standards.

In its decision, the board stated the advertisement, when considered in context, was not misleading. Rather, it was “advocacy advertising” and the identity of the advertiser was clear.

“The advertisement makes it clear that the advertiser, Tauranga City Council, is seeking good quality candidates to put themselves forward for the upcoming local body election.”

There were “several contextual elements” supporting this, such as the advertisement’s placement in the local newspaper, the board stated.

“Readers would be likely to know a local body election was taking place, after a five-year period where the city had been run by appointed commissioners.”

The board said while the use of the “now hiring” term had caused concern for the complainants, it did not reach the threshold to be misleading in context.

The complaints board ruled the complaint was not upheld and no further action was required.

Nominations for the election have closed and election day is July 20.

Kiri Gillespie is an assistant news director and a senior journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, specialising in local politics and city issues. She was a finalist for the Voyager Media Awards Regional Journalist of the Year in 2021.