Don’t use the R-word, especially when you’re just trying to sell something.
That’s the instruction from the advertising watchdog to tile retailer Italcotto, which has to scrap a radio ad declaring: “SA’s officially in recession.”
Listener Wouter de Witt complained to the Advertising Regulatory Board that the claim was incorrect, adding that it created unnecessary negativity.
Italcotto responded that it simply wanted to offer “some form of reprieve or financial saving” to hard-pressed consumers, and did not intend to mislead.
But the watchdog said its task was simple: to decide whether the “officially in recession” claim was factually correct.
Economists generally declare a recession if economic growth has been negative for two successive quarters.