{"id":103847,"date":"2015-11-12T19:35:35","date_gmt":"2015-11-12T17:35:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=103847"},"modified":"2015-11-12T17:56:02","modified_gmt":"2015-11-12T15:56:02","slug":"watch-5-of-the-most-racially-awkward-adverts-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/media\/103847\/watch-5-of-the-most-racially-awkward-adverts-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch: 5 of the most racially awkward adverts in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While South Africa consistently creates award winning adverts on a global scale, some can miss the mark given the social make-up of the country.<\/p>\n<p>While a few ads push the limits on taste &#8211; or get downright cheeky &#8211; when it comes to <a href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/102589\/watch-cell-cs-raunchy-new-advert\/\">presenting sex<\/a>, dealing with race can be a far trickier proposition.<\/p>\n<p>Some agencies get it right, such as this advert for a Ford Bantam.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HrT6yOkVuKg\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Other agencies are less successful &#8211; either through bad timing, bad characterisation, or simply poor conceptualisation.<\/p>\n<p>Here are 5 of South Africa&#8217;s most awkward adverts &#8211; where race is used as the major theme.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Nando&#8217;s Diversity<\/h3>\n<p>Nando&#8217;s is known for delivering some of the best adverts in South Africa &#8211; but not without courting some controversy.<\/p>\n<p>Following a spate of xenophobic attacks in the country, Nando&#8217;s humorously tried to depict how the country would look without all &#8220;those foreigners&#8221;. Unfortunately, it was viewed by many as insensitive, mainly because some foreigners were murdered during the attacks.<\/p>\n<p>Due to the timing of the advert, it was pulled from airing on SABC, though the ASA later ruled that it had not broken any ethical rules.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_R7vu9SuxaQ\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Cape Town Fish Market &#8220;Fresh&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p>While South African comedian Leon Schuster is no stranger to playing at &#8220;blackface&#8221; &#8211; the racist trope of white people dressing up as black people is a gimmick out of place in South Africa today.<\/p>\n<p>So much so that when Cape Town Fish Market aired an advert featuring the tired gimmick, it caused outrage.<\/p>\n<p>The restaurant chain followed up with an advert\u00a0 apologising for causing offense.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/a-VizrrTyR8\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Steers Big 5<\/h3>\n<p>Not all racially awkward adverts involve the black vs white controversy.<\/p>\n<p>A Steers advert showcasing its &#8220;big 5&#8221; burgers features a group of foreign tourists on a safari.<\/p>\n<p>Headlining the group is an Asian tourist that claims to have eaten all of the big five.<\/p>\n<p>Not only does the ad play on the stereotype that Asians eat everything &#8211; the character also speaks with the caricatured trait of replacing R&#8217;s with l&#8217;s.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iZUFt4bYm90\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Feed A Child<\/h3>\n<p>One of the most controversial and awkward adverts dealing with race came from charity, Feed A Child in 2014.<\/p>\n<p>The advert shows a small black child being treated like a dog by a clearly affluent white woman.<\/p>\n<p>While the ad&#8217;s creators said that the purpose of the advert was not to liken a black child to a dog &#8211; and rather show that people care for and feed their pets better than people &#8211; viewers would not have any of it.<\/p>\n<p>Following wide criticism and outrage, the charity was forced to apologise.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jtcbotOur2E\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Xpanda radio ad<\/h3>\n<p>In 2013, security gate manufacturer, Xpanda Group aired a radio that characterises everything you shouldn&#8217;t do when portraying race in the country.<\/p>\n<p>It plays on stereotypes that blacks are criminals and love chicken. The ad was met with the suitable backlash.<\/p>\n<p>Xpanda said that it had four ads that featured white, Indian and coloured men &#8211; unfortunately the other ads also played off of tired stereotypes. So instead of offending one group, it offended all.<\/p>\n<p>Here is the transcript:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Voice artists 1:<\/strong> <em>\u201cWhat you inside for, boet?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Voice artists 2:<\/strong> <em>\u201cEish, I was so hungry. So I walk up to the kitchen by the boss\u2019s house and grab a roast chicken. The madam, she slammed the Xpanda door in my face. No way out. That is how I ended up in jail, with no chicken. Eish.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Voice artists 3:<\/strong> <em>&#8220;Xpanda, arguably the world\u2019s best barrier security company. Dial 0861972632, or visit Xpanda.co.za, to get your safety on.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kaltura.com\/p\/1054541\/sp\/105454100\/embedIframeJs\/uiconf_id\/20308211\/partner_id\/1054541?iframeembed=true&amp;playerId=kaltura_player_20308211&amp;entry_id=1_sp447gg2&amp;flashvars[autoPlay]=false\" width=\"600\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><br \/>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">More on advertisng<\/h3>\n<p><strong><a title=\"Permalink to Watch: Top 5 most awesome Cell C adverts\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/103663\/watch-top-5-most-awesome-cell-c-adverts\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Watch: Top 5 most awesome Cell C adverts<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a title=\"Permalink to Watch: The advert that \u2018ruined Christmas\u2019\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/general\/102929\/watch-the-advert-that-ruined-christmas\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Watch: The advert that \u2018ruined Christmas\u2019<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a title=\"Permalink to Watch: Cell C\u2019s raunchy new advert\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/102589\/watch-cell-cs-raunchy-new-advert\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Watch: Cell C\u2019s raunchy new advert<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a title=\"Permalink to Cheeky Cell C advert crass, but not offensive: ASA\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/92670\/cheeky-cell-c-advert-crass-but-not-offensive\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Cheeky Cell C advert crass, but not offensive: ASA<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Africa produces some of the best adverts in the world &#8211; but more than a few can miss the mark or come across as racially insensitive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":103857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5554],"tags":[1761,26],"class_list":["post-103847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media","tag-adverts","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103847"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103883,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103847\/revisions\/103883"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}