'Chilling ad' pulled off air

2003-11-07 11:29

Cape Town - The advertisement starts with a young boy in Khayelitsha, speaking to a camera saying: "Hello my name is Thomas. In 10 years time we will meet at a stop street, I will walk up to your car and put a gun to your head, if you don't get out of your car I will shoot you."

This is just one of the advertisement made by Saatchi and Saatchi for the Amy Biehl foundation and it has caused an uproar among some viewers. Another one sees a white boy saying that in a few years he'll be begging at a shop, and that he'll attack and stab the person who walks away from him when he asks for money.

The advertisements aim to promote the importance of education. It ends with the line: "With no education, this is a likely future. Educate. Educate. Educate."

The hard hitting, and controversial advertisement was not only rejected by some viewers, but also by the SABC.

The foundation was offered R1.8m worth of airtime by the SABC, but once they saw the ad, the offer was withdrawn. Sbu Mangele, SABC GM was reported saying that the ads were found to be inappropriate because they "portray children in a negative light".

M-Net and ETV went ahead with the project and screened the ads at their own cost.

Almost two dozen viewers complained about the ads to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). They claimed the ads promoted hijacking and justified criminal behaviour. Many also thought it was insensitive to victims of hijackings and that it was in bad taste.

The ASA upheld the complaints and concluded that the ads "convey an inescapable message that every young child who is begging at a street corner, on the side of a road, at a shopping centre or anywhere else, is capable of murder or inflicting serious injury on a person who does not respond appropriately".

They found the ads in breach of the advertising code, and ordered them off the air.

The ASA said that the public was "very sensitive to issues of crimes such as murder, rape and violence which are committed against the person".

Additional information from Biz-community

- News24