[asia-apec 1157] NZ: Smith defends Apec TV ads

[Gatt Watchdog]

From: Evening Post, Wellington, 8 June 1999

Smith defends Apec TV ads
By Brent Edwards, Political editor

Trade Minister Lockwood Smith has defended a TV advertising
campaign which he says is to convince New Zealanders that more
trade means more jobs.

Labour leader Helen Clark has criticised the campaign to promote
the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) leaders' meeting in
Auckland during September.  The first ad was shown on TV at the
weekend.

Miss Clark said today she had never believed Apec should be held
in New Zealand during an election year and the Government had to
be very careful how it promoted the meeting.

"The ad is entirely misdirected.  It is part of a soft-sell
background to National's election campaign."

But Dr Smith told National Radio that the ads had been checked by
the Auditor-General David Macdonald and he was satisfied they
contained no political content.  There were nine ads in total,
which were designed to make New Zealanders aware of the benefits
of Apec.

"This is something important for New Zealand.  It is important New
Zealanders understand what Apec is about: more trade, more jobs,"
he said.

Miss Clark also criticised commercial sponsorship of Apec, saying
it was unprecedented for a leaders' meeting to be sponsored.

Ford, Telecom and Air New Zealand are sponsoring the meeting and
they get mentioned at the end of the TV ads.

"It is really weird for an international leaders' meeting to be
sponsored in this way," Miss Clark said.

Dr Smith said the sponsorship had enabled the Government which was
spending $44 million on Apec to do things it would not have been
able to do.  But obviously the sponsors wanted something out of
it.

"People don't sponsor if there is not a plus in it for them," he
said.

Apec monitoring group spokesman Aziz Choudry said the Government
was spending hundreds of thousands of dollars promoting Apec at a
time when more and more people were questioning the free trade
agenda.