By 3 News online staff
Complaints over a Tui billboard mocking Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki have been rejected by the Advertising Standards Authority.
Echoing the Lord's Prayer, the billboard read: "Our father in Heaven, Tamaki be your name," followed by the trademark Tui "Yeah, right" slogan.
Complainant T Komene said: "I find this to be an insensitive statement and an insult to God. The remark then goes on to imply that Tamaki 'is God', and this is not true."
And L Hindmarsh said: "I feel this billboard ad is defamatory and also in bad taste against all Christians."
The ASA acknowledged the complainants might have been offended, but the wording of the billboard "did not meet the threshold to cause serious or widespread offence".
"The advertisement was clearly satirising the well-known leader of a Christian group who was often in the public eye," ruled the chairman, adding that "most people would recognise the intended light-hearted social commentary".
The ASA said most people would "recognise the intended humour" in using a variation on the Lord's Prayer, and there were no grounds for the complaint to proceed.
3 News
source: newshub archive
