Sensible Sentencing Trust removes politicians' images from attack ad
The Sensible Sentencing Trust has removed images of Labour leader Chris Hipkins, Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick and Marama Davidson from its election attack advertisement, but has kept the message, RNZ reported.
The billboard ads showed party leaders alongside the text "BACKING THE GANGS", placed above the Greens' campaign slogan "for all of us". The billboards were created by the Campaign Company, which is owned by Taxpayers' Union boss Jordan Williams.
Sensible Sentencing Trust national director Louise Parsons told RNZ's Checkpoint programme that the politicians' images had been removed. Asked whether the ad could confuse people into thinking it was a legitimate party campaign ad, she said it was "satire".
The Greens have accused the trust of being a Taxpayers' Union "astroturf group", a term for an organisation that presents itself as grassroots. Parsons denied the trust is part of the Taxpayers' Union. She said the two organisations had worked together on media campaigns. The trust and the Taxpayers' Union also run a shared website called "We can't afford Labour".
The Green Party has complained to the Advertising Standards Authority, which handles complaints about advertising, about the ads. Swarbrick said the digital billboard company had suspended the trust's advertising for the time being.
The authority has dealt with similar material before. It partly upheld complaints about six parody billboards that targeted Green MP Tamatha Paul and Swarbrick, ruling that they were misleading.
