'Cheeky bastards' lose battle of the brand

By AUDREY YOUNG political reporter

The Alliance is accusing Labour of being "high-handed" and "hostile" over its failed attempts to get the minor party's logo ruled invalid.

The Electoral Commission yesterday rejected Labour's complaint that the Alliance's new logo is too similar to Labour's because it is white on red and uses almost identical red.

Alliance president Matt McCarten said he had left a message on the cellphone of Labour president Mike Williams yesterday, calling him "a cheeky bastard".

Had the commission agreed with Labour's complaint, much of the Alliance's campaign would have had to have been aborted. The party's billboards are already up.

The Alliance dispensed a year ago with its old green and white logo with a little red and brought in a new white on red one, with a little green.

Nothing was said until last Thursday, when Labour lodged its complaint.

Labour's logo last election used white on red, was reversed in the interim and now the party wants to again use the white on red for the logo that appears on the ballot paper.

The submission by Labour general secretary Mike Smith was detailed, including the Alliance's change from PMS Red 032 to PMS 185. He noted that the two colours also shared "a common base colour ink in Pantone Rubine Red, 50 per cent in the case of PMS 485 and 25 per cent in the case of PMS 185".

"It is contended that the two predominantly red logos are likely to be confusing to voters.

"The concerns of the Labour Party could be met if the proportion of red in the Alliance logo was no greater than 25 per cent."

Mr McCarten said it was a high-handed decision for Labour to challenge the Alliance now, given that its logo had been in use for a year.

"We should have put in a claim in objecting to them using red because it stands for socialism and passion and they don't have either."

The chief executive of the Electoral Commission, Dr Paul Harris, said he did not think voters would be confused or misled by the Alliance logo, which had a large A and some green as well.

Mr Williams said it was a reasonable complaint because the Alliance had swapped to a logo that was overwhelmingly red.

"We couldn't do anything about it until they tried to register it. Having heard the verdict of the referee, we're happy."

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