Creative license is a loaded gun

I remember at varsity in the communications class we used to argue about the communication process. A bunch of us contended that in the communication process the 'how' of the message should also be taken into consideration. A message might be well-intended but due to how it has been conveyed, it might be misunderstood and the whole process then jeopardised. Case in point is how creative freedom has been stretched in the South African advertising industry.

The following adverts are just an example of creative freedom that has killed the message:

• Brand House, social responsibility message - The advert on TV and billboards over the 2010 festive season shows prison inmates with a message: "They'd love to show you some good time". Well, the message is that these guys are waiting to perform horrendous acts on you. Correctional services on the other hand is working tirelessly to say to society that the inmates are undergoing rehabilitation and here is this brand portraying them as monsters waiting to pounce on you.

• Tastic Rice, Eastern flavours - The TV advert shows a group of ladies having a meal and an Indian lady bragging about how her good sari and gold she is wearing is from India. The lady declares that even the Basmati rice on offer can never be from South Africa and she has egg all over her face when it is revealed that the rice is actually the Tastic brand. Now the message for me was that Indians take credit over things they are not responsible for and that they like bragging and showing off.

• Ace Maize Meal - This brand never runs out of ideas when it comes to degrading its subjects. Some odd years back they had an advert of a lady with a very huge, superficial pot of porridge. I always failed to understand the logic because, for me, the message of black families being huge in numbers came to mind every time I saw the ad. The recent one of an old lady playing mogusha (rope-hopping game) with kids just makes me want to go for a loo break.

  What's the message there? This smacks of old apartheid era thinking or the thinking of some of the farmers of the day - "Feed the natives and they will work/dance for you". That is just what comes to my mind when I see an old lady skipping rope after supposedly eating Ace.

• Joko tea had a woman gyrating and mopping a hangar (refer to the feed natives message above). Frisco Coffee had women sipping coffee as if sipping the last bit of coldrink from a can with a straw in a unified chorus.

In trying to validate my argument on advertising creatives killing the message I conducted a survey. The question was: Which adverts do you consider bad, offensive to other races and lacking a message?

The following are just some of the responses received:

Respondent one: "Bad adverts, unfortunately they all include blacks, are those maize meal ads, it could be White Star, Ace or whatever brand, they are just bad. Then there's these adverts of black women (it's either some coffee or tea) where you find our mothers drinking tea and then start dancing stupid moves."

Respondent two: "I think the General Motors advert about the wife giving birth to a black child is sexist, racist and derogatory to women in general. It portrays women as being promiscuous and will jump into any bed to fulfil their sexual desires."

Respondent three: "The Vodacom 'make the circle bigger advert' is poking fun at fat and black people and loya baba mdala (that man is old) for doing that."

So it would seem that the same target audience aimed at by advertisers is in harm's way, being assassinated by creative teams. Do we bring an end to creative freedom, do we boycott the products or do we sit still and bite our teeth every time we see the adverts? Well I guess it all depends on where you are sitting and what you think of the advert. You can be left amused or simply put pen to paper and address the BCCSA, ASA or any of the watchdogs out there.

Be warned though, there is no escaping as you are the target here.