Greens complain over 'Backing the Gangs' election billboards
The Green Party has complained to the Advertising Standards Authority about a set of election billboards that show Green co-leaders Chlöe Swarbrick and Marama Davidson alongside Labour leader Chris Hipkins. The billboards carry the words "BACKING THE GANGS" above the Greens' slogan "for all of us", according to RNZ. The authority is the body that rules on complaints about advertising.
The Greens have also lodged a formal complaint against the Sensible Sentencing Trust. The party accuses the lobby group of impersonating it with the election billboards. JC Decaux, the company that owns the billboards, has paused the "BACKING THE GANGS" ads while it reviews concerns that have been raised.
The ads were created by the Campaign Company, which is owned by Taxpayers' Union boss Jordan Williams, RNZ reported. The Sensible Sentencing Trust posted the billboard signage. The trust's spokesperson, Louise Parsons, confirmed that Williams' company was involved in the ads. She denied that the trust is part of the Taxpayers' Union.
A Taxpayers' Union spokesperson said the union did not create the latest "BACKING THE GANGS" ads.
The ads follow a controversy in which Labour, Green and Te Pāti Māori candidates were criticised for campaigning with gang members. The Sensible Sentencing Trust and the Taxpayers' Union run a shared website called "We can't afford Labour".
The trust was also behind earlier "Defund the police" billboards that resembled Green Party campaign hoardings. The Advertising Standards Authority partly upheld complaints about those ads. It ruled that the advertiser's identity must be clearer, but it did not uphold complaints about harm or offence.
