Activist group ABC Friends warned to stop using public broadcaster's logo in lead-up to federal election

Activist group ABC Friends has been warned to stop using the public broadcaster’s distinctive logo on election campaigning material.

ABC managing director David Anderson appearing at Senate Estimates earlier this month.

Activist group ABC Friends has had its pre-election campaign derailed after it was caught inappropriately using the public broadcaster’s distinctive logo to launch partisan attacks on the Coalition.

The group has been forced to take urgent action to overhaul their campaigning material just months out from the federal election after the ABC’s managing director David Anderson was recently quizzed at senate estimates about the group’s questionable use of the logo.

For years, ABC Friends has been using it on its website, publications, letterheads, campaigning material and merchandise, but the group must now revise their digital advertising, flyers, social media ads, banners, billboards and branding on buses.

Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg told The Australian the group should not be using the logo to launch “partisan attacks”.

“I don’t want the ABC to be politicised,” he said.

“It isn’t in the organisation’s interests to be dragged into a federal election campaign and its logo used in partisan attacks.

“We want to have a clean election and we don’t want to see national institutions dragged into the political fray.” At this month’s Senate hearing, Mr Anderson confirmed he was recently alerted about the group’s inappropriate use of the public broadcaster’s logo.

“They can’t use it for a political campaign,” the ABC boss said.

The group was forced to hold an emergency meeting recently and it agreed to remove the logo from its website and replace it with an interim logo which simply reads, “ABC Friends”.

The group has more than 50,000 members and strongly advocates for the future of the ABC. Its material regularly attacks the federal government, particularly over issues including the public broadcaster’s level of funding. It relies on membership subscriptions, public donations and fundraising activities to operate.

In an email sent by ABC Friends’ national president Margaret Reynolds to all members last week, she said they were “scrambling to make changes” after coming “under attack” at senate estimates and were working to create a new logo.

“It’s going to be a bit tricky campaigning for our ABC without the use of their iconic logo,” she wrote.

The stripping of the ABC logo has already affected their campaign material, including new flyers in South Australia, banners in Victoria, a new TV advertisement in NSW and a new national campaign web page.

An ABC spokesman said they were “not affiliated” with ABC Friends but the group had been told to stop using the logo.

“The ABC contacted ABC Friends in early February to remind them of the ABC’s policy on the unauthorised use of ABC branding and content in political advertising or political messaging,” he said.

“In response, they have indicated they are reviewing their activities and materials to be consistent with the ABC’s protocols.”

On the group’s web page the logo no longer appears, however, it remains littered throughout their old social media posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

In one social media post featuring the ABC logo, an image of an unhappy Scott Morrison with his hands in the air is accompanied by the headline: “Can we trust the current government to negotiate a fair deal for the ABC?”

The Australian Institute of Public Affairs’ spokesman, Evan Mulholland, said: “The ABC would have no doubt been aware that ABC Friends were unlawfully using its logo for a long period of time as part of a very public campaign against the government.”