Nutritious Nationals?

Press, 16 August 1988, Page 1

Nutritious Nationals?

By DAVID CLARKSON Nutritech International, Ltd, a company selling livestock food and animal remedies, yesterday confirmed it has no plans to contest the 1990 General Election — even if its logo. has entered politics. The Auckland and Christ-church-based company was amazed to discover that the National party had adopted something very close to its own logo, and told the party’s headquarters in Wellington yesterday. “They’ve pinched our logo,” said the company’s marketing manager in Auckland, Mr Rob Ripley, after he saw the party’s newly stylised “N” in a newspaper. Although the National Party’s lines are a good deal fatter, the logo’s shape is remarkably similar. Mr Ripley said he was concerned that the company’s sales

people visiting farmers might now be mistaken for political canvassers, while its accounts might remain unopened or thrown away by householders not interested in politics. The company has been in business for 70 years, but its logo is not well known, because it deals directly with farmers instead of using a chain of merchants. But the logo does appear on

the sides of company cars, on letterheads, product packs, jerseys and jackets. Its colour varied, but from now on, it was unlikely to appear in blue, the National Party colour. "We have nothing against the National Party. It is likely that a majority of our customers would be National Party supporters, but we are not the slightest bit interested in getting involved in

politics,” Mr Ripley said. The party’s secretary-general, Mr Max Bradford, said in Wellington the logo designer and the party councillors who approved it were unaware of the Nutritech logo. “We are sorry that Nutritech feels we have ‘borrowed’ their logo, however we believe there are sufficient differences that, providing we never compete against one another in the marketplace, we can both live happily with the projection of two sound but diverse enterprises,” he said. Imitation was known as the Sincerest form of flattery, he commented. What did that mean, when the party was imitating a company selling specialist animal remedies? “No remedy is required,” said Mr Bradford. “They are basically in the fertiliser business.”