BSA Decisions Ngā Whakatau a te Mana Whanonga Kaipāho

Summary  

[This summary does not form part of the decision.] 

This complaint concerns a competition promo for Vince during ThreeNews including scenes of the main character sitting apparently naked in a bathroom stall and standing with a group of people in front of a banner labelled ‘CASH FOR THE CANCER KIDS’ when his trousers fall down. The Authority did not uphold a complaint the promo breached the children’s interests standard due to nudity, noting Vince’s buttocks and genitals were pixelated and there was no suggestion of sexual behaviour. The Authority found the promo was appropriate for broadcast during an unclassified news programme and did not require an advisory. It also found the promo was unlikely to cause widespread undue offence or distress and did not promote illegal or serious antisocial behaviour.

Not Upheld: Offensive and Disturbing Content, Children’s Interests, Promotion of Illegal or Antisocial Behaviour

The broadcast

[1]  During ThreeNews, at 6.40pm on 5 March 2025, an advertisement promoting a competition (promo) for Vince was aired.  

[2]  The voiceover of the promo stated:

Three and the Hits are giving you the chance to win $500 cash with Three's new local comedy, Vince… Spot the code word during Vince, Thursday 8.30, then listen to Jono, Ben & Megan on The Hits Breakfast on Friday morning for your chance to win.

[3]  Of the 16-second promo, nine seconds contained clips from Vince of the main character, Vince, in various situations, including:

• sitting apparently naked in a bathroom stall facing a wall
• standing with a group of people in front of a banner labelled ‘CASH FOR THE CANCER KIDS’ when his trousers fall down
• shirtless and screaming.

[4]  The scenes of Vince in the bathroom stall and with his trousers having fallen had Vince’s buttocks and genitals pixelated.

The complaint

[5]  Mary Pepping complained the Vince promo breached the offensive and disturbing content, children’s interests, and promotion of illegal or antisocial behaviour standards of the Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand for the following reasons:

• The promo showed nudity ‘during children’s viewing’ times.
• ‘It provides poor role modelling to children.’
• The nudity came as ‘a surprise’. There was no ‘choice in seeing it’ and ‘no protection for children’.
• ‘Nudity was shown more than once, a child cannot discern a “type” of promo, a child just sees a naked person on a toilet.’
• It was offensive and depicted antisocial behaviour.

The broadcaster’s response

[6]  Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) did not uphold the complaint for the following reasons:

• The relevant ‘shots were blurred so as not to reveal any nudity’.
• ‘ThreeNews is a news and current affairs programme that screens at a scheduled time each day and has an adult target audience… Therefore, it is generally understood that younger viewers watching the news will be subject to adult supervision.’
• ‘In the context of a news and current affairs programme with an adult target audience, the Committee maintains that the advertisement did not contain any material likely to cause significant harm to younger viewers with counsel from a parent or caregiver and was acceptable to screen at the time it did.’

The standards

[7]  The purpose of the children’s interests standard (standard 2) is to enable parents and caregivers to protect children from material that disproportionately disturbs them, is harmful, or is likely to impair their physical, mental, or social development.¹ The standard states:²

Broadcasters should ensure children³ can be protected from content that might adversely affect them.

[8]  The purpose of the offensive and disturbing content standard (standard 1) is to protect audiences from viewing or listening to broadcasts that are likely to cause widespread disproportionate offence or distress or undermine widely shared community standards.⁴ The standard states:⁵

• Broadcast content should not seriously violate community standards of taste and decency or disproportionately offend or disturb the audience, taking into account:
  • the context of the programme and the wider context of the broadcast, and
  • the information given by the broadcaster to enable the audience to exercise choice and control over their own, and children’s, viewing or listening.

[9]  The purpose of the promotion of illegal or antisocial behaviour standard (standard 3) is to prevent broadcasts that encourage audiences to break the law or are otherwise likely to promote criminal or serious antisocial activity.⁶ The standard states:⁷

Broadcast content should not be likely to promote illegal or serious antisocial behaviour taking into account the context and the audience’s ability to exercise choice and control.

[10]  We consider the children’s interests standard the most relevant to the complainant’s concerns and have focused our response on this standard. However, the offensive and disturbing content and promotion of illegal or antisocial behaviour standards are briefly addressed at paragraph [19].

Our analysis

[11]  We have watched the broadcast and read the correspondence listed in the Appendix.

[12]  As a starting point, we considered the right to freedom of expression. It is our role to weigh up the right to freedom of expression and the value and public interest in the broadcast, against any harm potentially caused by the broadcast. We may only intervene where the level of harm means that placing a limit on the right to freedom of expression is reasonable and justified.⁸

Children’s interests

[13]  The children’s interest’s standard requires broadcasters to ensure children can be protected from relevant content during normally accepted viewing times, usually up until 8.30pm (especially before school and after school), and on weekends and public holidays.⁹

[14]  Guideline 1.6 states promos should comply with the classification of the programme during which they screen. Extra care should be taken in scheduling promos for adult programmes (M, 16 or 18) during children’s normally accepted viewing times, and during programmes specifically aimed at child viewers, so that the promo’s themes and content are not inappropriate for the programme classification.¹⁰

[15]  Context is an important consideration when assessing complaints under this standard. The following contextual factors are relevant in this case:

• ThreeNews is an unclassified news and current affairs programme with an adult target audience.
• The segment at issue featured a competition promoting the new Three series Vince and The Hits Breakfast.
• The promo showcased various shots from the series’ first episode rated M-C, ie suitable for mature audiences 16 years and over and having content that may offend.¹¹
• The promo aired at 6.40pm on a Wednesday night, within children’s normally accepted viewing times, although the host programme was not aimed at children.
• Genitals and buttocks were pixelated in the relevant scenes.
• The promo did not contain any sexual innuendo or themes and depicted the comedic and humourous nature of Vince.

[16]  While acknowledging episodes of Vince are rated M-C, we are satisfied the excerpts depicted in the promo were appropriate for broadcast during an unclassified news programme.

[17]  We note the complainant’s submission the content came as ‘a surprise’ with ‘no protection for children’ such as an advisory. However, advisories are only required before content that is ‘likely to be outside audience expectations, disturb children or offend or disturb a significant section of the audience.’¹² ThreeNews is not a children’s programme. Based on the contextual factors above, content of this nature can be reasonably anticipated. It is expected young children watching news and current affairs programmes will be supervised.¹³ While children who are allowed to watch a news programme may see adult targeted content, parents and caregivers are at least there to discuss and explain it, mitigating the risk of children being disturbed.¹⁴

[18]  For these reasons, we do not uphold the complaint under the childrens interests standard.

Remaining standards

[19]  The remaining standards were not breached or did not apply:

• Offensive and disturbing content¹⁵: This standard protects audiences from viewing broadcasts that are likely to cause widespread disproportionate offence or distress or undermine widely shared community standards. We acknowledge the complainant found the promo to be offensive.  However, attitudes towards taste and decency differ widely and continue to evolve in a diverse society such as ours. In the context of the broadcast, we consider the promo unlikely to trigger offence or distress at the level contemplated under this standard.
• Promotion of illegal or antisocial behaviour¹⁶: This standard is concerned with broadcasts that actively promote or encourage illegal or serious antisocial behaviour. Context is crucial in assessing a programme’s likely practical effect.¹⁷ In the context described above in paragraph [15], particularly the promo’s broadcast during an unclassified news programme, the brief scenes depicted are not suggestive of any illegal or serious antisocial behaviour. The background to the relevant events is not clear, except in so far as the nudity in one scene appears accidental. We also do not consider the promo likely had the effect of encouraging viewers to replicate the relevant scenes or engage in any seriously antisocial forms of nudity.

For the above reasons the Authority does not uphold the complaint.

Signed for and on behalf of the Authority

Pulotu Tupe Solomon-Tanoa’i
Acting Chair
30 June 2025    

Appendix

The correspondence listed below was received and considered by the Authority when it determined this complaint:

1  Pepping’s original complaint – 5 March 2025

2  WBD’s decision – 2 April 2025

3  Pepping’s referral to the Authority – 3 April 2025

4  WBD’s response to the referral – 8 April 2025

5  Pepping’s further comments – 1 May 2025

6  WBD’s further comments – 1 May 2025

7  Pepping’s further comments – 1 May 2025

8  WBD’s confirmation of no further comments – 1 May 2025

¹ Commentary, Standard 2, Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand, page 10
² Standard 2, Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand
³ A ‘child’ is under the age of 14 years
⁴ Commentary, Standard 1, Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand, page 8
⁵ Standard 1, Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand
⁶ Commentary, Standard 3, Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand, page 11
⁷ Standard 3, Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand
⁸ Introduction, Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand, page 4
⁹ Guideline 2.1
¹⁰ Guideline 1.16
¹¹ Guideline 1.4
¹² Guideline 1.7
¹³ Guideline 1.5
¹⁴ For a similar finding, see Hines and Television New Zealand Ltd, Decision No. 2022-137 at [11]
¹⁵ Commentary, Standard 1, Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand, page 8
¹⁶ Commentary, Standard 3, Code of Broadcasting Standards in New Zealand, page 11
¹⁷ Guideline 3.1