4wd advertisers causing damage.

[mike]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/ ... 4WD-damage

The Otago Conservation Board has criticised a film company for damaging a fragile high country wetland in Central Otago while doing an advertisement for a four-wheel-drive vehicle.

A pilot flying a light aircraft spotted the group filming near Cromwell and took photographs of the damage, which show a vehicle stuck in a delicate alpine bog.

Board deputy chairperson Dr Abby Smith said: "The irresponsible behaviour of this motor vehicle company to glorify 4WD misuse in order to sell more cars is absolutely unacceptable.

Similar 4WD advertising in NZ media should be discouraged. Although the NZ Advertising Standards Authority has guidelines, we still see 4WDs driving up rivers and perched on top of mountains.

The bog is a fragile ecosystem with a diverse native plant community including sphagnum moss, numerous sedges and tiny wetland herbs as well as distinctive wetland invertebrates.

The Commissioner of Crown Lands is investigating.

[rangimotors]

"Similar 4WD advertising in NZ media should be discouraged. Although the NZ Advertising Standards Authority has guidelines, we still see 4WDs driving up rivers and perched on top of mountains"

And the problem is??? If you are going to sell a 4wd to be only driven on the street and advertise it as such why not sell a 2wd??

PC gone nuts!!

edit to add; By no means do i support the damage and i also think it should be paid for by the film company in repair expenses and a fine (as fines are the only way ppl like that listen and learn) but the comment i quoted is way off the mark. Just because one filming company films a 4wd in the wrong place doesnt mean that none of them should film in off road senerios.

[Landynut]

having worked for doc, spending months up to my neck in bogs hunting out tiny, delicate, near-extinction animal & plant species - and even longer battling the animal/weed pests that threaten them (spread by irresponsible/uneducated 4x4 and horse-trek operators for the most part) I think this company has shown absolute disrepsect for the flora and fauna of this beautiful country...

there are PLENTY of mud bogs around to choose from in paddocks/forestries that noone gives a crap about !!!

if having an otago high country backdrop was so god damn important, why not use film technology to achieve it, without even having to GO there, which ironically would probably have been cheaper!

at the very least they could have liased with DoC and local council before undertaking such a stupid act of vandalism..

to churn up a delicate ecosystem in order to advertise something is just plain ignorant in my view, and there was absolutely no need for it..

[wjw]

I posted this on stuff:

Bill Walker #5 11:38 am Dec 15 2010
I have a 4wd and travel with it, they should be held to account, I know if I saw somewhere doing that I would certainly do something about it.

The film company should fix it. The problem now is that they have set a precedent and the next person along there might see those tracks and go that way. The tracks you make stay for a while.

[OVERSZ]

This is really disappointing to see.
"Abuse it and we all loose it". This was not on DOC land but the nature of the ecosystem will take many years to repair it's self.
Mindless acts such as this are what lead to the comments such as those made in the article by Dr Abby Smith.
We have lost areas of the Old Man and Old Woman Ranges because people just wont stick to the tracks.

I have asked LINZ to supply me with the Companies details so I can add my weight to the disapproval and suggest more suitable places.

Below is a copy of an email I received back from DOC.

Hi Graham,

Yes it was disappointing to hear of the damage caused. The incident occurred on Pastoral Lease so was not public conservation land managed by the Department of Conservation but by Land and Information NZ (LINZ). LINZ are investigating the matter but the commercial will not be aired with that footage (it was for a overseas vehicle commercial).

If you would like to get in touch with LINZ Christchurch to express your concerns their details are;-
0800 665 463 or email customersupport@linz.govt.nz

Kind regards,
Amanda