The image of President Jacob Zuma is at the centre of a freedom of expression storm again – but this time it is more than 700 000 internet activists who are offended after the Airports Company of South Africa this week buckled under pressure to remove advertising posters calling on Zuma to stop a burgeoning international trade in lion bones.
The advertising campaign - paid for by the 15 million member strong internet NGO Avaaz – focused on a poster collage of the president’s face with an image of a lion being executed.
The posters, bought from Primedia’s advertising arm, had been on display for less than a week of a 30-day contract period when they were summarily stripped off the walls of OR Tambo International Airport’s international arrivals hall.
The poster shows a lioness looking down the barrel of a gun with an image of a thoughtful Zuma in the background. The caption reads, “President Zuma Can Save Her Life”. Underneath the poster the campaign sponsor’s name is printed with the message: “Our lions are being slaughtered to make bogus sex potions for Asia. Will President Zuma save them? Urge him to stop the deadly trade now.”
Launched in June, Avaaz’s Stop the Trade in Lion Bones campaign aims to collect one million internet signatures - of which 710 000 have been recorded - for a petition to put pressure on the SA government to end the lion bone trade.
SA is the world’s largest exporter of lion bones and the latest government figures show a 250 percent increase in these exports between 2009 and 2010. Mainly sourced from “canned” hunts, the bones are used in far eastern traditional medicines. A lion skeleton is estimated to be worth over $10 000 (R84 000) in some Asian countries.
Avaaz director Emma Ruby-Sachs said the NGO was considering its legal options. Speaking from Chicago, she said: “We are confident that our ads are legal and should not be censored. No one has shown us any proof that we are infringing on the laws. Millions of people visit South Africa every year to see its majestic wildlife, but it comes with a dark secret – lions are being killed and their bones harvested to make bogus remedies for Asia.”
Primedia’s Outdoor’s Sales and Marketing Executive Peter Lindstrom said it had had no option but to comply with Acsa’s instructions.
“We received an e-mail from the Airports Company last Wednesday saying the posters were offensive and in contravention of the Advertising Standards Act code of conduct and that they wanted them removed… we don’t censor our client’s products, so we referred the artwork to the Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA).”
ACA’s advice, Lindstrom said, was that the use of Zuma’s face could be problematic as Avaaz had not secured permission for its use.
But, he said, it was with regret that Primedia complied.
Acsa spokesman Solomon Makgale confirmed the order had been given to Primedia to remove the posters but said his company “only acted after a member of the public had phoned the company and alerted them to the posters”.