Two new Mavericks billboards in Cape Town – one on the N1 highway (going towards Cape Town, just before the Parden Island turnoff) and the other on Kloof Nek Road (Cape Town central), blatantly promote adultery, says Christian Action Network (CAN), in a media statement released today.
The billboards advertise a new cologne for men called “Alibis” being marketed by the Cape Town strip club. One blogger aptly renamed this cologne “the stench of sleaze, says CAN.
Both billboards depict a half-naked woman in a lewd pose, lying on her stomach and the words, “I was working late”. There are three schools within a 1km radius of the Kloof Nek Road billboard and it is close to a children’s park.
These billboards are encouraging men to lie to their wives in order to commit adultery at strip joints, with women who are very likely to have been trafficked (enslaved)! Both billboards stereotype women as sex objects, says CAN which calls on citizens to send complaints about the billboards to the Advertising Standards Association of South Africa (ASA).
Ironically, ASA this week ruled that an anti-abortion billboard used by CAN was offensive. CAN intends to appeal against the ruling.
Advocating public action against the Mavericks billboards, CAN says the more complaints the ASA receives, the more they will get a sense of how ordinary South Africans feel about such billboards. They advise that you can send your complaint ,with your name, address and ID number to: The Advertising Standards Authority, complaint@asasa.org.za or fax: 011- 781 1616.
In April the ASA ruled that a Mavericks billboard showing a scantily clad woman performing a lap dance was offensive. In its ruling the ASA said it was not condemning advertising of adult entertainment venues. However the billboard in question was inappropriately placed in a busy public road which was used by people of all ages.
