Fingers chopped: Hep C ad axed after ASA upholds complaints from the public
Television and outdoor ads for a major public health campaign featuring a rude hand gesture have been pulled just weeks after its launch, the content proving too offensive.
The “Stick it to Hep C” campaign was launched in late July by Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall in a bid to curb New Zealand’s high mortality rate from the blood-borne virus.
Its advertising featured people presenting their middle digit — a gesture widely recognised as a form of insult and regarded as obscene — to another person, who initially appeared affronted.
They then break into smiles, indicating they have had a prick test on their finger to see if they have been exposed to the disease.
The awareness campaign, slated as a key activity within the national hepatitis C action plan to eliminate the virus, used broadcast, online, print and outdoors media to relay its message.
However, after its July 28 launch the campaign has been severely curbed after viewer complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority were upheld, forcing prime aspects of the campaign off-air and out of public sight.
Public Health Service national director Nick Chamberlain confirmed the authority had upheld complaints about the campaign over its choice of imagery and it was “regrettable” the health agency didn’t get the balance right.
“We can confirm that the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld some complaints about the hepatitis C awareness campaign.
“As a result, the television advertisements will no longer be broadcast, and the posters will no longer be displayed at bus shelters or on digital display boards.
“We had no intention of causing serious or widespread offence with our choice of campaign imagery and it is regrettable that the ASA considers we didn’t get the balance right on this occasion.”
He said all free-to-air broadcasts of the television advertisement were after the 8.30pm watershed. Broadcasting the advertisement after this time was assessed by the Commercial Approvals Bureau as unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence.
“We also took steps to place out-ofhome advertising such as digital display boards and posters in locations most relevant to our target audience of men aged 45-plus,” he said.
On-demand broadcasts of the advertisement were served only to adult viewers based on their account holder profile information.
Despite the complaints Chamberlain said the advertisements had been received very positively by many people.
This had been helping to normalise conversations around hepatitis C and led many at-risk New Zealanders to seek testing and treatment.
He said the campaign concept was endorsed by health sector representatives, peer workers and people with lived experience as the most effective way to raise awareness of hepatitis C.
Before the setback campaign metrics indicated the banned tv ad had reached more than half the health agency’s primary target audience of men aged 45-plus, and over 1000 people had visited the stickittohepC website after doing an online search for one of the campaign phrases.
The Health Promotion Agency has since swapped out its main campaign image from a middle finger shot to a double thumbs up though the YouTube clip remains online along with a middle-finger image on the dedicated campaign website.
The Advertising Standards Authority has been approached for comment.
When Verrall launched the national hepatitis C awareness campaign to mark World Hepatitis Day in late July she said it was important to do everything possible to capture the attention of the tens of thousands of Kiwis who may be unknowingly infected with the potentially deadly virus.
“It’s really important we do everything we can to raise awareness of hepatitis C so we can eliminate the virus that approximately 40,000-45,000 New Zealanders live with,” Verrall said at the time.
The troubled awareness campaign was part of the National Hepatitis C Action Plan for Aotearoa New Zealand, launched a year ago with the goal of eliminating hepatitis C as a major public health threat by 2030.
“We’re calling on Kiwis to ‘Stick it to hep C’ — ‘Werohia te Atekaka¯ C’ – because all it takes to find out whether you’ve been exposed to hepatitis C is a quick and easy finger-prick test.
“Over 200 New Zealanders continue to die each year from hepatitis C even though we now have an easy test and an easy cure.
“If hepatitis C is left untreated, up to a quarter of cases will develop cirrhosis, which can lead to lifethreatening liver cancer or liver failure.
“Every one of these deaths could have been prevented by earlier diagnosis and treatment.”