The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint that a radio advertisement by Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere was misleading.

The ad played on Newstalk ZB included the following line: “Hi, John Tamihere here, did you know Phil Goff is letting Auckland Transport cut the speed on 700kms of roads to just 30km/hour? No suburb will escape this crazy plan. If you’re not happy about this, write to me at jt4mayor.co.nz and give me a mandate to reject this.”

A complainant said the advertisement was misleading.

“Newstalk ZB is owned by NZME, publisher of the NZ Herald. The Herald's own website says the material in the ad is false and misleading. 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,” the complainant told the ASA.

In response, the advertiser said the speed limit reduction proposal is for reductions from 30km to 80km, depending on the area. The advertiser said they didn’t have time to say all of that in a 30 second commercial.

The ASA’s complaints board ruled the advertisement to be misleading because it said Auckland Transport’s proposal would reduce the speed limit to 30km/hour on 700km of roads when, in fact, the proposal is for speed limits ranging from 30 to 80km/hour, depending on the area. The board noted Auckland Transport said less than 72km of road in the Auckland region is proposed to have a speed limit of 30km/h.