{"id":631999,"date":"2026-10-16T02:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T02:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/631999\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T02:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T02:58:11","slug":"not-so-much-fun-now-home-loan-company-warned-over-billboards-posing-as-election-ads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/631999\/","title":{"rendered":"Not so much fun now: Home loan company warned over billboards posing as election ads"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>New Zealand Home Loans, owned by Kiwibank\u2019s parent company, erected billboards in public parks across Auckland without council permission. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cDid someone say party?\u201d read the new billboards which have popped up in public parks and reserves in Auckland. They\u2019re installed in areas reserved for election hoardings, and look much like the parties\u2019 efforts, with a large photo of a man in a brown suit and a T-Shirt emblazoned with the block letters \u201cFUN\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But on closer inspection, the ads aren\u2019t for any registered political party, but promote home loans. \u201cHave a mortgage &amp; a life with NZHL\u201d reads the tagline at the bottom.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The fake election billboards are part of an advertising campaign by mortgage and insurance advisory firm New Zealand Home Loans (NZHL), which is wholly owned by government-run Kiwi Group Capital, the parent company of Kiwibank.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Kiwibank has drawn international attention in recent weeks for <a href=\"https:\/\/thespinoff.co.nz\/business\/03-10-2026\/kiwibank-is-desperately-trying-to-stop-people-saying-they-want-to-fuck-its-sheep-mascot\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">issuing takedown notices to some social media users<\/a> who joked about how attractive they found its sheep mascot, Buck. After installing these faux-election signs, Kiwi Group Capital\u2019s home loan company could soon be receiving a takedown notice of its own.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>NZHL\u2019s campaign centres around a character who personifies \u201cfun\u201d. Auckland Council, however, doesn\u2019t think it\u2019s so funny. \u201cThe council has not given approval for their display at any of the reported locations,\u201d Auckland Council compliance officer James Watson told The Spinoff.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe signs appear to be commercial advertising erected in council-controlled public places and are being assessed for compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have made contact with NZHL and will continue our communication with them to ensure compliance. Any further action will be determined following our site visit and assessment of the signs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/01a14241-a389-734e-a1d8-07e03581fdb3.webp\"   alt=\"Uploaded Image\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" class=\"w-full h-auto\" ariadescribedby=\"image-caption-01a14241-a389-734e-a1d8-07e03581fdb3\"\/>The NZHL billboard amongst election hoardings in Potters Park, Mt Eden. (Joel MacManus\/The Spinoff)<\/p>\n<p>Janelle Ericksen, NZHL\u2019s head of marketing contradicted this, saying the company has \u201cnot been contacted directly by Auckland Council\u201d but confirmed that \u201cNZHL did not pay any permit fees or seek permission from Auckland Council for these sites&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNZHL is not a political party. The billboards use a play on the word &#8220;party&#8221; and form part of a wider marketing campaign,\u201d Ericksen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Auckland Council bylaws allow candidates and parties to erect hoardings in 278 council-owned locations across the city during the nine-week election period, but this permission does not extend to private businesses advertising financial products. Commercial advertising is generally banned in all public parks. <\/p>\n<p>If the signs are found to breach the council\u2019s Signs Bylaw, Auckland Council can remove them at the owner\u2019s expense and prosecute, with fines of up to $20,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand Home Loans, owned by Kiwibank\u2019s parent company, erected billboards in public parks across Auckland without council&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-631999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-auckland","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}