Dick Smith has hit out at Channel Nine yet again, this time for refusing to air a censored version of his controversial Australia Day ad.
Nine initially refused to air the ad — which featured numerous dick jokes (none as bad as the one in this headline) and made light of asylum seekers — due to its content and PG rating. Smith is now claiming he sent a censored, G-rated version of the ad to the broadcaster that was also rejected.
Smith told AdNews: "They still refused, even though we sent through a censored version with a G rating. It's just unbelievable they would reject a $30,000 ad placement, when it was fully compliant and censored. We didn't even need to censor it, because on a Saturday you can show a PG-rated ad in that time slot. Other stations were happy to run the PG version. But we censored it for Nine and Nine still wouldn't run it."
This time, Nine has hit back. A spokesman told AdNews: "We decided not to run the ad during the news. We offered to run it elsewhere, such as later that evening during the cricket, and we offered to run it during the same slot on Gem. But he chose not to and we have not billed him for the spot he booked. We are also running other ads from his broader campagin, we just didn't run the Australia Day ad."
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