World window display raises Qtown eyebrows
Fashion brand World’s Queenstown store has a window display that could be in breach of advertising ethics.
The display, featuring a a snow globe with the word ‘‘f...’’ inside it and salt and pepper shakers, one labelled ‘‘heroine’’ and the other ‘‘cocaine’’, has raised the eyebrows of passers-by and the local council.
Louise Wilson, from Cambridge, was visiting the town with her husband and seven-year-old daughter Georgie when she noticed the expletive in the store’s window.
‘‘My daughter asks me if the snow globe in the window really says what she thinks it does,’’ Wilson said.
‘‘I asked the shop assistant if perhaps they could move it to a more discreet part of the shop only to be told that the directors in Auckland told her it has to go there and can’t be moved and I could walk my child another way.’’
Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) chief executive Hilary Souter said whether or not a window display can be considered advertising is decided on a ‘‘case by case basis".
No complaints about the globe had been received, but it wouldn’t be the first case where there was public backlash after storefronts used expletives in their displays, she said.
So far this year the ASA has ruled on two cases where stores’ shop window signs contained ‘‘offensive language’’.
In one case Wellington store Iko Iko had a sign in the window that said ‘‘zero f .... given’’ with the letter ‘‘U’’ partially obscured by an asterisk.
In the other case, a Mamasita pop-up shop near an early childhood centre had a sign that read, ‘‘you are doing f...ing great’’.
Because the stores had removed the signs before the ruling, the ASA complaints board ruled both cases were settled.
Queenstown Lakes District Council spokesman Sam White said planning staff were aware of the window display and had considered whether there was any breach of regulations under the District Plan.
The council later decided because the display items were not a sign it could not be addressed under the District Plan, and no action would be taken.
The snow globes are sold in World’s stores for $199, but are not included in all its window display.
A shop attendant at the brand’s store in Britomart, Auckland, who did not want to be named, said they had a couple in store but not in the window.
‘‘At the moment we have a taxidermied alpaca in the window.’’
Window displays were normally designed by Francis Hooper, a company director and co-founder, the store attendant said.
Retail NZ spokesman Greg Harford said: ‘‘I think we’re living in an increasingly accepting world where window displays are much more interesting and exciting.’’
World did not respond to requests for comment.