An advertising campaign by The Union for STV’s recruitment site STV Jobs has been cleared by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) having received 11 complaints.

The campaign consisted of three TV ads, two posters and a cinema ad to promote the website, which used the idea of job seeking professionals chanting in the style of a Maori haka.

The ASA received eight complaints – five from New Zealanders - that the TV advert was culturally insensitive and offensive because the haka holds spiritual significance to the Maori people and was felt an inappropriate choice to parody. Two of those viewers also felt the depiction of woman was offensive as woman are  traditionally forbidden from performing the haka.

Two more complaints were made against the accompanying posters for similar reasons, as was the one complaint against the cinema advert – which was the same as the first TV ad but also mentioned the facial marking used in the campaign.

STV defended the campaign, saying that it felt the campaign had not crossed the line or shown disrespect, and also felt that it was unlikely to cause widespread or serious offence.

STV also said that the ‘job seekers’ dance was inspired by various traditional tribal warrior dances which were choreographed specifically for the STV ad and that there was no intention to recreate any specific tribal dance.

It was also disputed that the campaign was offensive by including women involved in the dance, as its research has show that types of traditional haka were performed by woman.

The company also said that as part of its research it had consulted with Scottish based New Zealanders and also received a positive review from a public service broadcaster based in New Zealand which felt that parody was a common theme in advertising and reasoned that whilst it may touch on sensitivities, it would rarely result in widespread offence, having been parodied several times before.

The face marketing were also defended by STV which said that the concept had entered popular culture in the form of face painting at events and that the markings were not linked to any specific tribe.

Transport advertising company CBS Outdoor who managed the advertising space, said the posters had appeared in panels inside ScotsRail trains and that they were accepted because they appeared to be light-hearted in tone and content and they did not consider them to be offensive.

The ASA chose not to uphold the complaints which it felt did not depict a direct copy of the Maori haka and agreed that while the ads were likely to be perceived as referencing Maori culture, they were likely to be understood in context and not mocking a minority culture.

It was concluded that, although some viewers might find the ads in poor taste, they were unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence and ruled that no further action was necessary.