Complaints over advert

An ad for Volvo showing a car being driven on the right side of the road has drawn complaints from several respondents claiming it is irresponsible given the recent spate of tourist road crashes. The commercial shows the vehicle travelling through city streets in the right lane. It includes a disclaimer stating "overseas model and footage shown". Several viewers complained to the Advertising Standards Authority, because they thought it was “dangerous and misleading” for visitors to New Zealand. Complainant B Rietveld said: "The advert gives visitors to NZ a clear impression that this is acceptable driving standards for NZ when in fact it is illegal to drive as the advert suggests." J Lawrence wrote: "considering the recent spate of accidents particularly with rental cars being driven by foreign tourists I think this ad is offensive, disgraceful and terribly misleading". The authority responded saying it was unlikely to cause confusion, because common sense would indicate it had been filmed overseas. The complaints board chairman found "the majority of consumers would understand that the advertisement contained overseas footage and did not encourage unsafe driving practices and did not encourage a disregard for safety". He said the link to recent road crashes was an "unfortunately unavoidable" coincidence.