Men's clothing retailer Barkers is advertising a new range of kiwi-themed T-shirts. Full-page ads for the shirts carry the bright green banner "homegrown" and pitch the tees as "cool, stylish and unique - just like NZ". From all this hoopla, you'd think the shirts are New Zealand-made. But you'd be wrong - they're made in China.
Ads like this are becoming more common. They try to cash-in on the growing consumer interest in buying local products but the goods they advertise aren't made here. When they go too far, they risk breaching the Fair Trading Act. One company, Knights Business Furniture, has already found this out the hard way. Last year, the company was convicted of breaching the Act after advertising office chairs as "NZ Made" when they weren't.
Barkers' managing director, Zac de Silva, told us its ad campaign "encourages New Zealanders to celebrate New Zealand design" and it never intended to mislead customers about where the tees are made. We're pleased to hear this but we think the company should change the ads to make it clear where the shirts were manufactured.
More from consumer.org.nz
- Fair Trading Act - our guide to your rights
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