Complaints against Auto & General’s television advertising campaign focusing on the devastating Knysna fires — some laid by victims — have been dismissed by the Advertising Regulatory Board.
In June 2017, a series of fires raged through Knysna and Plettenberg Bay, devastating 16,000 hectares of urban areas, plantations and fynbos, causing billions of rand of damage and claiming the lives of seven people.
The complainants laid their formal grievances with the ARB, claiming they felt the adverts were offensive and in poor taste in that they were exploiting human tragedy for financial gain. They called on the regulator to rule on the matter.
The television commercial, which has been flighted since March, opens on stills and video scenes of firefighters in the midst of a huge fire, with sirens echoing.
A caption reads “Knysna, 2017”.
A voice says, “Flames like 20 metres high.”
On-screen text on a black background reads: “We were there.” The voice says, “There’s nothing left,” over more scenes of fire and destruction.
Text reads: “When hundreds of families lost everything ...”
The visuals show a burnt-out house, with the sound of a woman sobbing. The commercial cuts to a black screen again, with the backing song, “I’ll stand by you”, and text reading, “We gave it all back.”
Cut to images of the houses being rebuilt.
Further text says, “We paid every claim in just seven days.”
The final text says, “When suddenly happens, who’s there for you?” Then it cuts to the Auto & General logo, with a voice-over saying, “We’re never not there.”
One of the complainants wrote: “Ourselves and my mother-in-law were victims of the Knysna fires. And the ad playing the fires and voice clips are triggering PTSD. My mother-in-law lost everything in those fires, and we lost things. It really triggers the emotions and feelings we experienced in that disaster.”
Another complainant wrote: “A number of people, including two young children, died in those fires. It is despicable to remind their families — without warning — of their loved ones' horrendous deaths — and that for A&G's financial gain.”
A further complaint was that the use of the lyrics “We’ll stand by you” as the soundtrack and slogan was “hypocritical”.
In response to the complaints, Auto & General said the advert was not intended to be offensive or instil fear, but instead detail how they had responded and served their clients positively during the disaster and paid out all claims relating to the event.
“The advertisement explains that in response to the disaster, A&G was there, which is aligned to its newest business mantra of Never not There,” they explained.
“The A&G team worked tirelessly on the ground and behind the scenes to ensure that its customers were assisted and that all their claims were paid in a matter of days... our business is to ensure that we are there for our customers in a time of need and indemnify them against insured events,” A&G responded.
The advertiser noted that in addition to paying the claims of affected clients, they provided 24-hour personal assistance for customers in Knysna and offered them free trauma counselling.
“In addition, A&G also donated to the Pick n Pay Foundation to assist with the purchase of blankets, beanies, gloves and food for those who had lost their homes in the fires, as well as supplies for the firefighters,” A&G said.
It said the campaign was created with a lot of thought and consideration, as well as empathy for those who had suffered significant losses in the fires.
“Our intention was to highlight true events and their effects in a sincere manner, aiming to raise awareness and provide support focusing on our response and the assistance we provided to our customers and the community with our products as part of our business.”
“The question is therefore whether this commercial has been handled with sufficient consideration for people who are quite understandably traumatised by this specific event.”
— Advertising Regulatory Board
The company argued that the advert does not offend against good taste or decency in that it is not offensive to public values and sensitivities, and made no reference to these. The idea was to portray the event in an authentic and respectful manner while demonstrating how A&G had responded and assisted customers in their recovery from the event that led to their claims.
“The fact that a particular product, service or advertisement may be offensive to some is not in itself sufficient grounds for upholding an objection to an advertisement for that product or service. The advertisement demonstrates actual events in a realistic manner. The disaster was well documented in the media. The advertisement serves to highlight the positive affect of A&G’s service in this time and on this basis we submit that the advertisement is reasonable and justifiable and cannot be said to be offensive.”
A&G said it had done significant research into the event and obtained consent from relevant individuals for images and footage used in the campaign to ensure that the portrayal of the events was realistic and accurate.
The regulator applied the advertising code which states that advertising material may not offend against good taste or be offensive to the public unless this can be said to be reasonable and justifiable. It said it had been asked to consider the claim that the advert triggered PTSD, that it reminded people of the deaths of their loved ones and that it was distasteful for a disaster to be used “for financial gain”.
The ARB’s directorate noted that as a business offering, insurance is intended to cover customers from the worst life events, including loss, illness, or death. It therefore was reasonable that unfortunate life events are referred to in insurance advertising.
“This is, however, not a licence to offend people. Insurance companies need to exercise caution in how they handle traumatic events in advertising,” the directorate noted, referring to a recent decision to censure Dotsure for overly graphic sounds and imaging used in an advert depicting a home invasion in which the family dog was shot and injured.
“The question is therefore whether this commercial has been handled with sufficient consideration for people who are quite understandably traumatised by this specific event,” the directorate said in finding that the A&G images were not offensive or overly graphic.
The sounds of a sobbing woman played over visuals of a destroyed home were said to be “discomforting” but not “so disturbing as to be offensive”. That clients were contacted for their permission was viewed as a genuine effort to “portray actual events in an authentic and respectful manner”.
It was found that the people whose homes were portrayed, and who would have been the most intensely affected, had given their permission and were all paid out promptly.
It was therefore found that A&G’s efforts to highlight the backstory were appropriate. The disaster had also been well documented in the media, meaning that people were familiar with the events and so exposure to the images would not further anyone’s knowledge of the tragedy.
It was found that A&G could not have found a way to communicate their service in a less emotive manner, as it was accepted that the tragedy was upsetting and, therefore, any depiction of it would be upsetting for some viewers.
“The directorate is extremely sympathetic to those consumers who felt concerned about the depiction of the Knysna fires. However, given the nature of insurance, almost every advertisement for these products will be triggering to someone — whether a person who has recently experienced a burglary, or the loss of a loved one, or even the nonpayment of an insurance claim,” the ARB said.
Considering the content from the point of view of the hypothetical reasonable person, the directorate found that the advert was not offensive and did not violate the advertising code in any way.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.