Car advert pulled after RSA upset

A second-hand car dealer has pulled its TV advertisements for Anzac Day specials after the Returned and Services Association (RSA) complained.

The advertising, for 2 Cheap Cars, was approved by the Advertising Standards Authority, the company said. But the RSA complained to the Ministry of Culture and Heritage about the use of the word Anzac.

2 Cheap Cars marketing manager Jared Donkin said the advertisement was not meant to be offensive. A Facebook advert for the company told people to ‘‘come down because their greatgranddad would be proud’’.

‘‘2 Cheap Cars is known for its attention-grabbing style of ads, but deliberately offending people is not what we want,’’ Donkin said.

He said the company had apologised to the RSA, too. It had tried to contact the organisation before the ads were run, he said.

The RSA referred inquiries to the ministry’s guidelines, which prohibit the use of the word Anzac in trade or business unless approval has been given by the minister for arts, culture and heritage and the governor-general.

‘‘The intention of the protection of the word ‘Anzac’ is to protecting the term from commercialisation and to ensure that the use is not offensive to public sentiment,’’ the guidelines say.

It is acceptable to have an Anzac Day sale on April 25 but a business could not have an Anzac Sale.

RSA chief executive David Moger said he was pleased the ad had been pulled.

‘‘The advert referred to Anzac Day, which we consider sacrosanct. ‘‘But we are delighted 2 Cheap Cars saw our point, and acted so quickly to fix the situation; it shows there was no intent to harm, or cause any disrespect.’’