Nope To Dope shock for dairy owner
A Wairarapa dairy owner was shocked to discover his business was being used for an anti-cannabis advertising campaign.
An advertisement paid for by the Say Nope To Dope campaign shows children cycling and scootering past Featherston’s KiaOra Dairy, which has been renamed ‘‘KiaOra Dopey’’. The shopfront bears three ‘‘Dope Shop’’ signs in place of its original Tip Top signage and the advert’s tagline reads ‘‘Our way of life is too precious to be wasted’’. Dairy owner Bhairav Patel said he was shocked to learn of the advert when it appeared in newspapers and on social media last week. He did not want to be associated with cannabis and said the link made in the advert was affecting his business.
‘‘Nobody contacted me until it was printed and then I heard about it on social media. But it still has our name on it – how can anyone use our name without our consent? I have had people coming in and commenting about it.’’
The dairy is also well-known beyond the Wairarapa, having featured on Kiwiana place mats, jigsaw puzzles and paintings.
But despite receiving 31 complaints about the advertisement in less than a week, the Advertising Standards Authority has approved it. In a decision released yesterday, the authority said the complaints covered several issues, including the advertisement’s apparent implication that cannabis would be available from dairies and sold to children if legalised in next month’s referendum. Questions were also raised over the use of the words ‘‘Kia-Ora Dopey’’, which complainants said were racist and implied white neighbourhoods would be overrun with cannabis-using Ma¯ori. The authority released its responses to several of the issues raised, including that the advertisement implied cannabis would be sold to children.
It disagreed, saying the proposed Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill proposes anyone over the age of 20 will be legally allowed to buy cannabis from licensed premises. However, if cannabis is available at shops children will be able to walk, scooter and bike past these shops, as shown in the advertisement.
The authority also said that while the signage on the shop in the advertisement might not comply with the provisions in the bill, it assisted with conveying the advertiser’s view of what cannabis retail outlets may look like and how the New Zealand way of life might change if the bill is passed.
It disagreed the advert was racist as the words ‘‘kia ora’’ and ‘‘dopey’’ are commonly used in New Zealand and their use together as the possible name of a cannabis retail outlet did not contain any racist innuendo.
The authority ruled there were grounds for the complaint to proceed. no