Lion rapped for billboard advert

The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint against a Lion Breweries billboard advert featuring a book titled Men in Black bearing the image of a silver fern.

The ASA complaints board agreed the advert contravened the liquor advertising code by referring to identifiable heroes or heroines of the young.

It rejected the argument put forward by lawyers for Lion and its advertising agency, Meares Taine, that "Men in Black" had been employed in a number of contexts, including the movie, and did not necessarily refer to the All Blacks.