Use host cities' names in ads: AfriForum

26 Apr 2010

Kallie Kriel, chief executive of the AfriForum pressure group and the lone ranger riding to the defence of the Afrikaner's heritage once more, has complained about the World Cup adverts on radio and television that allow Bloemfontein and Pretoria to be called Mangaung and Tshwane.

Use host cities' names in ads: AfriForum

AfriForum lodged an official complaint on Wednesday (21 April 2010) with the Advertising Standards Authority saying that the advertisements mislead the public into believing that the names of Bloemfontein and Pretoria have changed, seeing that official place names are used to refer to all of the other host cities, while only Bloemfontein and Pretoria's municipal names are used.

It presumably adds insult to injury that the ads for Durban - an English name despite its French appearance, the name of a British governor of the Cape Colony Sir Benjamin D'Urban - is not called by its municipal name Ethekwini.

The complaint was lodged in terms of Clause 4.2.1 of the ASA code, which prohibits misleading advertisements AfriForum said.

The group said it is confident that the complaint will be successful, since the ASA has previously ruled in AfriForum's favour that it is misleading to give the impression that a municipal name is the name of a city. This ruling was also upheld after the Tshwane Metro Council lodged an appeal in 2006.

Kriel said AfriForum wants the Soccer World Cup to be a success. "The ASA was therefore requested not to institute a marketing ban against the World Cup organising committee," he said, "but merely to ensure that the public are not misled into believing that Bloemfontein and Pretoria's names have changed."

Source: I-Net Bridge

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