EDITORIAL | Advertising is everywhere, which is why it should be monitored

SA’s diversity is one of its most beautiful and endearing characteristics. But its melting pot of cultures often causes tension in terms of how we treat each other, the prejudices we cannot seem to shake and the assumptions we make about others based on misinformed stereotypes.

And the advertising industry is not immune from this — a point that has been made very clear this week at the SA Human Rights Commission hearing into racism in this sector.

One of the most glaring examples was the 2018 H&M advert featuring a black child in a hoodie with the wording “coolest monkey in the jungle”. How this ad ever made it into the public domain is astounding and illustrates the immense insensitivity and lack of insight that still lurk in the top echelons of private business.

More recently, there was a massive backlash to a 2020 TRESemmé shampoo advert that referred to black hair as “dry and damaged”. Last week the equality court ruled that the full advert did not discriminate against black women, but that a “cropped” social media version had been the probable cause of the public furore and nationwide protests. Exactly who cropped this advert in a way that deleted all context, and then decided to post it on social media, is unknown, but speaks to the sentiment out there. 

Hair, accents, culture, heritage, home addresses and a myriad other issues continue to drive discrimination in SA, almost three decades after apartheid fell. Communities remain largely unintegrated and it is a sad indictment on our society that SA’s journey to transformation at times feels as if it has only just left the starting block.

While we must guard against political expropriation, the issue of how and where adspend goes, as well as the messages adverts put out into the world, is a discussion well worth having.

The SAHRC decided to hold the hearing in a bid to craft medium to long term interventions, rather than deal with complaints on an ad hoc basis. The organisation hopes these interventions will help to minimise the publication of discriminatory adverts.

But why focus on the advertising industry when there are many sectors out there that are still stuck in their outdated and discriminatory ways? Perhaps it is because advertising is everywhere. No one can escape it. It is all around us, on social media, TV, billboards, pamphlets, websites, radio, news outlets. We are bombarded by it every hour of every day. And the messages that are sent out permeate out brains consciously and subconsciously. They tell us what to eat, what to wear, how to behave and what our barometers for success should be. The industry is uber powerful and with that comes a great responsibility.

The hearing is also discussing where advertising budgets are focused and why, and if the use of the traditional LSM (living standards measure) to determine who gets that adspend is accurate or “archaic”.

As expected, testimony was varied, with the Institute of Race Relations’s Gabriel Crouse testifying that there is no longer racism in advertising​, while the EFF’s Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, in his customary grandstanding style, said the advertising industry must be fined R50bn for perpetuating racism, adding that current advertising patterns are “irrational, idiotic and racist”.​

While we must guard against political expropriation, the issue of how and where adspend goes, as well as the messages adverts put out into the world, is a discussion well worth having.

Advertising holds up a mirror to society. It reflects our opinions and purposefully depicts situations that advertisers believe their target market will relate to. While there should never be any attempt to censure either expression or fair trade, we must hold the industry to account in the path it charts.

This applies not only to racism, but also sexism, homophobia, religious prejudice and any other form of discrimination.