Dairy NZ to Appeal Decision on Greenpeace Ad

 The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 12 complaints about the advert, which blamed the dairy industry for water pollution, but dismissed all of them.

Dairy NZ, which represents dairy farmers, would not comment on the reasons it was appealing, ahead of the hearing.

But chief executive Tim Mackle said the organisation was disappointed by the authority's decision.

"We were very unhappy with the ad in the first place. We do feel that it's misleading in the way that it's pitched... We have the opportunity now to appeal the ASA decision and we will do that," he said.

Mr Mackle said the public deserved a balanced picture.

Comments by Greenpeace that dairy farmers needed to acknowledge the existence of the problem, rather than denying it, were not helpful, he said.

Dairy NZ had recently met with representatives from the environmental lobby group and given them a picture of the work that dairy farmers were doing.

TheCattleSite News Desk