TVNZ tweaks Cadbury advertising page after claims it looks like news
TVNZ has tweaked the design of a Cadbury advertising page on its website after accusations it looked like a news page.
The page, part of the state broadcaster's new Extra Mile advertorial series, features interviews by Wallace Chapman, best known as the host of TVNZ7 political panel show Back Benches (shortly moving to Sky TV's Prime channel).
This morning the Extra Mile page was tweaked to remove a block displaying TVNZ news stories.
"We’re not taking down the material," spokeswoman Megan Richards told NBR ONLINE.
"We’ve just removed a link to ONE News which could have led people to think Wallace’s interviews were part of the news, and we have added a line ['Advertising feature' top right of screen shots below] to make it clear this is paid content."
Russell Brown was among those who criticised the campaign via social media this morning.
"Woah. That Cadbury advertorial looks very, very close to editorial on the TVNZ site," he tweeted.
The Extra Mile page maintains the same general look and feel as a TVNZ news page.
Here's how it looked early this morning, then around 11am:
BEFORE:
(Click image to zoom)
AFTER:
(Click image to zoom)
The clips fronted by Mr Chapman (which also screen on TV ONE) push a slick PR message, emphasising fair trade and ignoring controversy over Cadbury's use of palm oil.
On its website, the company says it still uses palm oil in some products sold in New Zealand, but claims it is sustainable.
Maybe a claim Mr Chapman could investigate when he returns to his regular role.
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Comments and questions4
Yawn, sustainable is just another word for "have bribed the right people to say nice things"...
yawn indeed - TVNZ you are a dinosaur. The net is here and TVNZ has NZ content. What they do have is a bunchg of generic rubbish that can be sourced cheaper and quicker by torrenting. What a shame you decided to scrap virtually all your local content, killing the one point of differentiation you had in the market to become TV Auckland.
TVNZ has a habit of doing this. It put together an ad for Telecom that included Stacey Morrison who was described as a "consumer reporter".
Clearly our state owned news source has a very broad view of just when it's appropriate to use the word journalist.
I think the operating word here is advertising revenues.
By the way, lets not call them TVNZ. The dont represent TVNZ. They barely have a presence outside of Auckland and have a rapidly shrinking pool of NZ content.
Sadly what local content they do have is nothing short of an utter waste of taxpayer funds (the ridges anyone????)
NZ either has a national broadcaster or a regional (e.g. Auckland network) - fund them accordingly and move the rest of the money where it is able to be used for the maximum benefit.