What the Retirement Commissioner's ads really say

A TV One viewer has complained to the Advertising Standards Complaints Board about one of the Retirement Commissioner's tv ads.

Monday, June 14th 1999, 12:00AM

A TV One viewer has complained about one of the Office of the Retirement Commissioner's television advertisements saying it "reinforces negative stereotypes about ethnicity and class".
The ad at the centre of the complaint before the Advertising Standards Complaints Board is the one where a Polynesian man in overalls standing outside a workshop. When an articulate man questions him about his retirement plans, he answers in monosyllables of either yes or no.
The complainant reckons the ORC is using "negative and racist stereotypes" to get its message across.

However, the Advertising Standards Complaints Board dismissed the complaint and deemed the Polynesian man was a man of few words and had given thought to the issues of retirement.
In a written decision the board says the character is not only a person of few words "but also a sensible and typically ordinary New Zealander."
The ORC says its series of ads seeks to invite viewers to make up their own mind as to the value of financial planning and it seeks to elicit one of two responses, either;
That person has a negative attitude, I won't be the same- I'll get hold of a copy of the ORC's Retirement Action Planner booklet, or
That person has a good point, so I had better get hold of a copy of the booklet.
The ad in question is designed to elicit the latter response, namely the Polynesian man is conveying to the interviewer his derision of the questions being put to him.
"To that character it is perfectly natural that he would have completed the Action Planner," the ORC says.

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