All-white Outsurance ad harms the native child‚ watchdog told

The row over an all-white Fathers Day ad posted on social media by an insurance company has made its way to the advertising watchdog.

But the Advertising Standards Authority said it would not make a ruling because Outsurance had apologised and promised not to use the ad again.

Masoga Kekana complained to the ASA about the video featuring scenes of white fathers enjoying activities with their children.

“The content is racist and harmful to the psychology of the native child’s mind as they are never shown‚” he said‚ adding that the post suggested only white families had good parents and healthy environments‚ while the activities of black communities were not worth portraying.

Kekana also complained about how black communities were portrayed in advertising in general‚ arguing that there was more to black people than life insurance‚ alcohol and funeral policies.

In the furore sparked by the ad‚ Outsurance blamed a young employee. “This advert was created by one of our junior ladies in the social media department and I believe she made an innocent mistake‚” said head of marketing Peter Cronjé.

He admitted the video was “demographically inappropriate” and said it was “an unintentional oversight” by the company.

“We retracted the post and issued an apology because when it was compiled it did not have an appropriate demographic representation. It wasn’t screened by an executive‚ so we will have to make sure in future that we screen them [ads for social media] as we screen our TV commercials‚” Cronjé said.

Outsurance told the ASA the ad was removed the same day it was posted after the backlash. But it argued that the post did not constitute advertising because no Outsurance product wass linked to it in order to promote a sale. Therefore‚ the ASA could not adjudicate on it.

The ASA directorate responded: “This video served the purpose of raising customer awareness of (Outsurance’s) business and creating brand loyalty or association. As such‚ the directorate is satisfied that the video is a visual communication‚ which was intended‚ at least to a significant degree‚ to promote (Outsurance’s) business.”

Black South Africans reacted angrily to the advert‚ either threatening to cancel policies or confirming they had done so‚ despite the company allegedly offering discounts in a bid to keep them.