He said the 'brownies' billboard was as close to the line as the company wanted to push things, despite receiving many calls of support.
"We probably didn't expect it to offend as much as it did. But we sleep easy at night because we know we are not racist guys. It was light-hearted."
Hell holds the record for complaints after 685 people contacted the authority over a 2006 campaign for 'Lust Pizza' which involved sending out condoms in the promotion material.
But Blomfield said the company had a good relationship with the authority, who released details of 2009's 10 most-complained about ads this week in its annual report.
"We have a lot of respect for the ASA and always uphold their decisions." Blomfield described many people who complained about Hell ads as "Nazis".
"For every one complaint we get another 10 calls congratulating us."
The authority received 1339 complaints about 829 ads last year, up from 1246 about 703 ads in 2008.
Executive director Hilary Souter said the watchdog aimed to encourage creativity not stem it.
"Last year was pretty hard for a lot of companies and ads are big investments. Some wouldn't have wanted to risk having the ad ordered off."
She said some language used in advertising was more acceptable to the public than it would have been five or 10 years earlier.
An example was Toyota's infamous "bugger" campaign in 2005.
AUT University marketing professor Roger Marshall said most companies didn't want to offend but some pushed the envelope.
Many companies weren't bothered if they cause minor offence because it could generate free publicity and work well with their market, particularly young people.
Most complained about ads of 2009
1. Hell Pizza, billboard. "At least our brownies won't eat your pet dog". (62 complaints, racist). Upheld.
2. Stihl chainsaw, TV. Dying man tells son to "look after your mother", but the son reports the old man has left him the chainsaw. (52, bad taste, insensitive). Not upheld.
3. Erotica Lifestyles Expo, billboard. Two nuns praying, one "good by day" the other "naughty by night". (45, morally and religiously offensive). Not upheld.
4. U tampons, TV. A woman accompanied by an animated beaver is implored to give it tampons. (44, objectified and degraded women). Not upheld.
5. ASB Bank, website, billboard, in-store, bus. "We've been a Kiwi Bank since 1847", creating the impression it is New Zealand-owned. (25, misleading). Not upheld.
6. ACC, newspaper. Motorcyclists said ad overstated chances of having a claim-related accident. (20, misleading). Not upheld.
7=. Widex hearing aids, billboard. Woman wearing a coat, high heels and stockings, with a message "to hear no evil would be a bit of a shame". (19, offensive to women). Not upheld.
7=. Sky TV, TV. Viewers told they can "escape" a bad day using MySky, with one man shown having his hands bitten by a shark. (19, violent and offensive). Not upheld.
9=. Cadbury, TV. Ad for Moro chocolate bar showed a brief clip of two horses mating. (10, offensive and unsuitable for children). Not upheld.
9=. Coca Cola, TV. Under-dressed women dancing around a newly single man, who says "you don't want to be with one woman, when there are so many women out there". (10, discriminatory toward women). Settled, withdrawn by advertiser.
9=. D Vice, billboard. Four people kneeling in prayer, with one woman smiling. A caption says "anal beads from $55.99". (10, offensive to Catholics). Upheld.
9=. Mediaworks NZ, radio. An ad for TV3 website had a recording of David Bain's 111 call. "A lot can happen in 30 seconds, that's why we update our website around the clock". (10, personal recording, offensive). Settled, withdrawn by advertiser.
- NZPA
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