The centrepiece of the campaign was a video by comedian Tom Sainsbury, in which he played “Boomer Dad”, who was caught in a fake investment scam and lost money for a trip to France.
But critics said the campaign was victim-blaming. The video was pulled from FMA social media channels early last week.
Tim Fairbrother, of Rival Wealth, said it was in poor taste. “I understand what the FMA were trying to do by shining light on the situation in a different way to target different audience, but this is a serious issue that has cost some unsuspecting Kiwis significant
amounts of their savings,” he said.
“We shouldn’t be belittling the issue by getting a comedian to make fun of it. It needed a trusted figure to tell the story with the seriousness it deserves, which is where it missed the mark.”
Rachelle Bland, of Cliffe Consulting, was outspoken in her assessment and said she expected others in the industry were similarly upset.
“As advisers, we work very hard to put our clients' interests first, treat them fairly and with respect, and comply with all our obligations so that we don't fall foul of all the rules of our industry, but this video makes a mockery of all that,” she said.
But she said other advisers were worried about the consequences of being seen to criticise the FMA.
“My company was selected 'at random' in August this year for a planned monitoring audit (we were one of five FAPs) and they were brutal in the audit. We thought it was odd to have been selected, but I have been told via various anonymous sources that we would have been targeted due to our outspokenness. Luckily we passed the audit fine, which has only increased our courage to speak out.”
She said the FMA campaign was a contrast to those of the banks and KiwiSaver providers, which were more about “educating people rather than mocking them”.
She said Booster had been particularly good.
Massey University marketing expert Bodo Lang said ads that made fun of individuals or groups of people were likely to cause offence and could potentially be a breach of the code of ethics of the New Zealand Advertising Standards Authority.
