Hauraki’s “Amped” hangover ad okay in Herald but not billboards

Where adverts are placed could determine whether they are socially irresponsible or not.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) says it is acceptable for the Radio Network to run its “Hauraki Amped” in the New Zealand Herald, but running them on billboards is not.

The “Hauraki Amped” adverts feature drive time DJ Matt Heath saying “my show starts at 4pm - long enough to get over any hangover.”

(Ironically at a recent industry event NBR witnessed Mr Heath - looking more bonny than his hard-living Back of the Y days - actually decline a drink.)

In May, the ASA upheld a complaint from R Williams, who claimed the advertisement said the DJ was “amped on alcohol” and this breached advertising codes on social responsibility.

However, in June the Radio Network won a chance to appeal claiming its adverts were lighthearted and used humour, citing a Burger King commercial which claimed burgers can “help with your hangover.”

Such humour also fitted in with the network’s target market- 37-year-old blue collar males where “hangovers are already a familiar and ‘normal’ part of life,” the Radio Network said.
Matt Heath’s  “larger than life” persona  also fitted such a campaign.

ASA complaints board chairman Jenny Robson ruled proper procedures had not been followed in the original decision, there was new evidence of sufficient substance to change the decision and it was in the interests of natural justice for the matter to be heard again.

During the appeal, heard on July 20, R.Williams repeated the earlier criticism and also cited a recent review of alcohol laws by the Law Commission, which recommends further restrictions on alcohol advertising.

“Eighty six per cent of submitters (2,281 out of 2,939) to the Law Commission’s review supported banning or restricting all advertising of all alcohol in all media,” R. Williams said.

Accepting a former ruling concerning Burger King was in itself a “dangerous precedent” when standards need to change.

Furthermore, according to R. Williams, a billboard featuring the advert was sited in the “leafy green, rather gentrified suburb of Epsom in Auckland” which was not Radio Hauraki’s target market.

R.Williams also cited a survey, which claims 40% of 15-17 year-olds had seen alcohol adverts in the past three months, so using humour in such commercials was not acceptable.

“The Complaints Board unanimously agreed the wording of the advertisement contributed to the normalizing and making light of excessive drinking and had not been prepared with the due sense of responsibility to consumers and Society. I assert that this decision was correct and should stand.”

The Appeal Board looked at the evidence again and concluded that the New Zealand readers who saw the advert would be adults who would see the advertisement “as a humourous jibe reflecting a social reality, rather than a promotion of excessive consumption of alcohol in New Zealand’s drinking culture.”

Consequently, there was no breach of social responsibility codes here.

However, with the billboards being able to reach unlimited numbers, including younger people, most of the board felt the social responsibility guideline was breached.

Thus, the Appeal Board ruled the complaint against the billboard advertisement be upheld and dismissed this part of the appeal.