Johannesburg -
Outsurance has defended its decision to use the name Tshwane in its television advert currently being broadcasted on a regular basis.
The company’s spokesman Natasha Kawulesar said when shooting the advertisement, they wanted to refer to the Centurion and Pretoria areas. The reference to Tshwane in the advert was in context of the broader demarcated municipal area of the City of Tshwane metropolitan municipality, of which Pretoria and Centurion form part, said Kawulesar.
On Thursday, civil rights organisation AfriForum filed a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) against the advertisement. The group’s complaint is based on the fact that although the City of Tshwane approved and still intended to register the geographic area that constitutes the municipality as a city with the name Tshwane, the renaming was yet to be approved.
The municipality claims that the main blockage for the finalisation of name change were court actions and the misinformation campaign that the renaming would be expensive, polarise South Africans and vaporise Afrikaners and minority heritage and culture.
The consequences of the delay is that the city is still known as Pretoria; Tshwane is the municipality.
In 2005, AfriForum won a similar case against the City of Tshwane, after which the municipality instituted a legal challenge and lost.
As a result, an alert was issued to all ASA media members to not accept any advertising from the municipality concerning its general destination marketing activities, as the use of Tshwane as a place name or geographic name was not allowed.
AfriForum’s chief executive officer, Kallie Kriel, said the use of Tshwane as a place name or geographic name was misleading and in conflict with the ASA code. It created the impression that Tshwane was the name of a place or a geographic name, Kriel said.
Kawulesar said although a somewhat technical argument could be made about names of areas, the advertisement was not misleading to consumers.
“If required we will defend the complaint, given that it would be costly to change the advertisement.
“We have engaged with ASA proactively and they are in possession of the material in question.”
- Pretoria News Weekend