A radio advertisement for Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere has been pulled after being deemed misleading.
The advert, which aired on NZME's Newstalk ZB, claimed Mayor Phil Goff was "letting Auckland Transport cut the speed on 700kms of roads to just 30km/hour".
"No suburb will escape this crazy plan," Tamihere, who voiced the ad, claimed.
A complaint was laid with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), saying this wasn't true - the speed limits will actually be as high as 80km/h in some areas.
"The Herald's own website says the material in the ad is false and misleading," the complainant said. The New Zealand Herald is also owned by NZME.
"My complaint is that ZB and John Tamihere continue to run the ad when they know it is false and this has been brought to their attention."
Tamihere's campaign responded by saying there wasn't enough time in a 30-second commercial to "say all of that".
"We did not have time to say that in 30 seconds and chose simply to alert people to the proposal because Auckland Transport had done a very unsatisfactory job of advising the public," his campaign said.
"More people heard our advertisement than Auckland Transport reached with their 'consultation' programme."
His campaign said the ad only ran for two weeks and wouldn't be used again.
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NZME told the ASA it relied on advertisers to ensure their ads were truthful.
"Notwithstanding that, we are cognizant of the fact that we too have a responsibility as a broadcaster to ensure that the public is not misled."
The ASA upheld the complaint.
Newshub.
