'Racist' muesli bar ad cleared by watchdog

A scene from the Tasti ad. Photo / Youtube

An ad accused of racism for portraying Maori as cannibals has been cleared by the advertising watchdog.

The television ad for Tasti muesli bars, which featured a cartoon montage of Kiwiana kitsch set to OMC's hit song How Bizarre, attracted two complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

The complainants took offence to a scene showing a British colonist being roasted on the spit by Maori, which one complainant said portrayed Maori as cannibals and mocked them for events that never happened.

The other complainant, who said the ad was "racist and highly offensive", also took exception to scenes which showed a target on a Japanese-flagged ship, and a reference to scoffing on pies while speeding past police.

The ad - which also featured numerous New Zealand landmarks, historical references and cultural icons - ended with the line: "Oh Tasti, we real Kiwi, but not as Kiwi as all the cliches in the land."

The ASA said there were no grounds to proceed with either complaint, saying the ad had not breached the code of ethics and was "a light-hearted and cliched montage of New Zealand culture and history".

The authority also cleared a Fisher & Paykel Appliances ad which was accused of grossly exaggerating the length of a dog year.

The television ad, which showed a dog sitting in front of a front-loader washing machine, said patience could not be taught, so the company had developed a way to reduce the wash time to 15 minutes.

"Sadly, that's still about a week in dog minutes," the ad said.

The complainant said 15 minutes was actually equivalent to one hour and 35 minutes in dog years, as calculated using the "generally accepted" ratio of seven dog years to every human year.

The complainant's own calculation was wrong - seven times 15 minutes is actually one hour and 45 minutes.

The ASA, which did not note that discrepancy itself, said there were no grounds to proceed with the complaint.

It said the ad referred to dog minutes, not dog years.

The ASA also said the ad had used comedic hyperbole and was unlikely to mislead or deceive consumers.

- APNZ