Is transformation happening?
The second hearings into transformation was held on 12 - 13 November 2002, following the first hearings on 6 November 2001.
Nkenke Kekana, Chairman of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications, is pleased with the progress made at the recent two-day parliamentary hearings on racism in the ad industry, but adds that there is still a lot of work needed to be done.
Browse submissions made during the hearings:
www.gcis.gov.za/docs/portcom/
Early next year there will be a plenary session of industry and relevant government and para-statal bodies and other stakeholders to set goals and create benchmarks to chart progress. It is still not known what these benchmarks will be and who will set them.
Company shareholding
The top 10 advertising agencies all have empowerment partners owning between 26% and 58% of equity in their agencies, according to Mpho Makwana, head of the Association of Communication and Advertising. This is in contrast to the IT industry with only 10% of JSE-listed IT company equity being owned by previously disadvantaged individuals (read more).
Employment
Many people believe that shareholding is not as important as to how many people work in the industry. Advertising and media content would then better reflect the diverse communities of South Africa, and it goes without saying that media content shapes public opinion to a large extent.
ACA's has a self-imposed target of 40% black representation by 2004.
ACA has been tracking employment levels for a number of years:
| 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | |
| % Black Employees (1) | 23,3 | 26,2 | 29,5 | 31 | 31,1 |
| % Black top management (2) | 6,9 | 8,2 | 16,4 | 18,9 | 16,8 |
| % Black professional / management (3) | 13,5 | 16,4 | 19,3 | 21,4 | 20,4 |
Media spend
Brenda Wortley of the AMF and Sue Bolton of AC Nielsen have developed the Advertising Transformation Index and came to the following conclusion:
The combined 2001 spend in Television, radio, magazines and newspapers under-invested against Black, Coloured and Indian consumers by 23%;
Television by 12%, Radio by 20%, Newspapers by 18%, and magazines by 33%.
This shows that a disproportionately higher spend went against white consumers, but as the vast majority of advertisers do not use race filters in their targeting, another dynamic must drive this spending pattern. It was commonly felt that the greater return on investment against affluent consumer sectors was the reason for the picture.
Creative / Awards
CDF chairman Ross Chowles told MP's at the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee hearings in Cape Town yesterday that the only way to speed up transformation in the ad industry was to impose quotas. The MFSA hosts a number of awards, including Loerie, Raptor, Assegai and Tusk awards. Their stated policy is to "To promote diversity through the awards".
Training
IMM GSM course: 56,7% are black and 43,7% are white
AAA School of Advertising: About 60% black in Johannesburg and 20% in Cape Town, depending on the course.
Company policy
A survey in conjunction with the Advertising and Communication Association (ACA), Media Forum (AMF) and Association of Marketers (AoM) found the following:
90% of these companies have Human Resource Development and Training policies in place.
Affirmative Action polices can be found in all (100%) of the companies that responded to the survey.
>90% of respondents were not aware of the ownership make-up of companies that they procured services to and from.
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