ASA sued for R4.5 million

The original complaint against Matrix's advertising was lodged by Netstar, who wanted Matrix to substantiate their claim to be able to locate a vehicle within 30 seconds. An independent survey conducted by Markinor that compared three of the largest vehicle tracking companies determined that Matrix was indeed able to consistently locate a vehicle in under 30 seconds.

This however was not the end of it, because the ASA went on to issue a ruling that Matrix's advertising had "without justifiable reasons played on fear" and therefore had to be withdrawn. No one had lodged a complaint against this aspect of the advertising, though, and Matrix formally appealed. The Advertising Industry Tribunal concurred with Matrix and the ruling was repealed.

Stefan Joss, Matrix's CEO, said that they were delighted at the outcome of the appeal but that they felt that the ASA had "bungled the issue completely - at Matrix's expense". He says that the ad campaign consisted of two phases, "the first of which was to establish awareness of our products and their efficacy and the second to translate those into a tangible benefit for the consumer.

"By being forced to withdraw our advertising over a non-existent complaint," he continues, "Matrix not only lost impact but also encountered negative publicity, both of which damaged our reputation. In addition, Matrix is now required to duplicate its advertising to overcome the setback that the ruling created." Matrix estimates its loss at R4.5 million.

"Simply put," says Joss, "the ASA went beyond the terms of the complaint and arrived at a completely unreasonable decision that cost Matrix money. In addition, the ASA publicised its findings widely, effectively accusing Matrix of exploiting hijacking for commercial gain and of supporting or condoning acts of violence through its advertising.

"Yet, when our appeal was upheld, the ASA made no attempt to mitigate the damage done to Matrix, either through an apology or by publicising the appeal finding as widely as it had the original outcome. Far from playing on fear, Matrix deals with the reality of the South African situation in a responsible manner while offering consumers some form of protection and hence peace of mind. As a company intimately involved with protecting people against crime, Matrix cannot tolerate this tarnish on our reputation. We have no choice but to try to recover our losses.

"While we support the ASA in principle as a self-regulatory industry body, it - like all the advertisers out there - must also be held accountable for its actions. Bear in mind that only one complaint was received - and that from one of our competitors. In our view, it is unacceptable to use the ASA to suppress free competition in a free market economy."