Air New Zealand has had to apologise to the people of the tiny Pacific nation of Niue for misrepresenting the island in an advertising campaign, with New Zealand’s Advertising Standards Authority upholding a complaint about the images the airline used to promote holidays in Niue.
Niue’s tourism office describes the place as undiscovered, unspoiled and unbelievable, but locals were surprised when they logged on to Air New Zealand’s website to see Niue depicted by palm-lined sandy beaches and verdant green islands.
In fact, Niue has neither.
It is one of the world’s largest coral atolls, and much of its rugged coastline rises 20 to 30 metres straight out of the sea.
The 1,500 inhabitants of the island and thousands who have migrated to New Zealand, who refer to Niue as ‘The Rock’, could see the funny side of it, but the Advertising Standards Authority did not see the joke, and ruled the advertisement had misled consumers.
Report by The Mole and the ABC
