SABC advert causes a heatwave

2005-05-05 22:35

Elsabé Brits

Cape Town - The weather forecast is not always spot-on, even if the South African Weather Service doesn't like people saying so, especially not on a giant billboard.

The weather service has lodged a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) about an SABC advertising billboard.

The advertising thorn in the weather service's side reads: "It's all true. Except sometimes the weather. SABC news."

The complaint has been rejected.

The weather service argued it was an authoritative body giving weather and climate forecasts on a daily basis. It found the billboard to be offensive.

The service feels the billboard belittles the meteorological sciences and the weather service's attempts to forecast the weather accurately.

Was intended to be eye-catching

According to the service, a uninformed person would accept the words as fact, namely that the weather forecasts broadcast by the SABC were not true.

Advertising company TBWA/Hunt/Lascaris that responded on behalf of the SABC said the billboard was intended to be eye-catching, not negative.

The ASA ruled that a reasonable person would not think that the weather forecasts were inaccurate, because that would mean ignoring the word "sometimes".

According to the ASA, weather forecasts, due to their nature, could not always correlate with prevailing weather conditions. It was also found the advertisement was not belittling the meteorological sciences.

- Die Burger