NZPA
Bonus Bonds advertising misleading
Monday July 21, 06:39 PM
ANZ National's "Money and the Bach" advertising campaign for Bonus Bonds has landed the bank in court where it copped a $80,000 fine.
The bank's subsidiary ANZ Investment Services (New Zealand) Ltd pleaded guilty to two charges of breaching the Fair Trading Act and was sentenced today in Wellington District Court, the Commerce Commission said.
The advertising represented that people buying bonds before the end of December 2006 and retaining them until January 31 2007 would be placed in a draw to win $1m and $500,000 to go toward a bach.
However, eligible consumers were to be placed in an initial draw, the winner of which got to choose from 100 envelopes with only one envelope containing the major prize. The other 99 envelopes contained a cheque for $10,000.
The television advertising strongly implied that $1 million and a bach was a prize which would be won when there was only a 1 percent chance that it would be struck.
"Gifts and prizes must always be described accurately, and the description must not mislead people into thinking that an advertised prize will be won if, in fact, this is highly unlikely," Commerce Commission director of fair trading Adrian Sparrow.
Bonus Bonds were introduced by the government in the 1970 as a means of encouraging New Zealanders to save. ANZ Investment Services (New Zealand) Ltd, trading as Bonus Bonds, is a wholly owned subsidiary of ANZ National Bank Ltd.
Source: NZPA
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