Virgin's angels 'not offensive'

2006-10-30 10:11

Liesl Pretorius

Johannesburg - The Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) has turned down an appeal by 10 complainants against its previous ruling that Virgin Mobile's TV and film ads are not offensive.

In the advertisement a person called Jack dies after receiving his cellphone account and then arrives in a "heaven" filled with scantily-clad women who serve beer. He is sent back by the porter because he is still bound by his cellphone contract.

The complainants were of the opinion that the portrayal of heaven was offensive because the women in "alluring clothes" were depicted as angels.

Virgin Mobile stated that any reasonable person would realise that the advertisement was not designed to offend followers of any religion.

The ASA agreed with Virgin Mobile and ruled that the advertisement was not making fun of any religion. The appeal was turned down.

Vodacom ad

In another ruling, the ASA directorate found that neither the half-naked dancers, nor the lyrics of Vodacom's Leeuloop television advertisement were offensive.

This advertisement elicited a lot of reaction and some were of the opinion that it was an insult to Afrikaans-speaking South Africans.

According to eight complainants, the advertisement was offensive because it portrayed the "sexual deed".

The lyrics sung by Robbie Wessels were worsened by the presence of "half-naked dancers", the complainants said.

The advertising agency FCB denied that the dancers were "half-naked" and stated the lyrics "do not describe a sexual deed in such a way that it would offend children".

FCB, who believed the advertisement was presented in a style that is "typical of many Afrikaans music videos", said the word "balls" sung by Wessels did not necessarily refer to testicles.

The directorate agreed with this argument.

It was found that the reference to "balls" could be a play of words, but the fact that sport balls were portrayed while the lyrics referred to balls indicated another meaning.

This advertisement and the radio version of it did not represent disgusting advertising that would be harmful to children, it found.

- Beeld