JOHANNESBURG - A new Nando’s advert that mocks xenophobia is too hot for South African television.

DStv yesterday announced its refusal to flight the chain’s new  commercial after public broadcaster the SABC did the same earlier this week.

“We have suspended flighting of the ad. Per our terms and conditions we have the right not to broadcast any material that we believe may be offensive to viewers,” Chris Hitchings, DStv Media Sales CEO, said.

Channel head for e.tv, Monde Twala,  could not comment on the broadcaster’s decision on whether or not to air the advert, because he was out of the country.

The advert begins with a group of foreigners crossing the border  through a hole in the fence. A voice-over then says: “You know what’s wrong with South Africa? All you foreigners.

“You must all go back from where you came from you Cameroonians, Congolese, Pakistanis, Somalis Ghanaians  and Kenyans, and of course you Nigerians. And you Europeans. Let’s not forget all you Indians and Chinese, and even you Afrikaners.”

This is said as people of different races and cultures vanish in puffs of smoke.

Swazis, Sothos, Vendas and Zulus are also told to go back from where they came.
At the end, a Khoisan man standing in a field  speaks in his native tongue: “I’m not going anywhere. You ***** found us here,” he says.

The voice-over  then goes on to say: “Real South Africans love diversity,” before introducing two new meals.

Nando’s spokesman Mbali Ndlovu-Taoana said the company had taken a “bit of strain” but the commercial had a following and had already gone viral on the Internet.

The choice to air it on television was made because not everybody had a computer, she said.
“It’s a positive message about celebrating diversity and embracing who we are. People however have looked at the first five seconds of the ad and neglected the next 45.”

Hitchings said DStv believed the commercial breached the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa’s (ASA) code of ethics.

He added: “We are concerned that it (the advert) might further inflame an already sensitive situation.”

ASA manager for dispute resolutions Leon Grobler  would not comment as a complaint was not yet received.

The SABC pulled the advert before it was aired in the public interest, its spokesman Kaizer Kganyago said.

“We have looked at it and found that it had xenophobic undertones.

In the beginning it says ‘you foreigners’, that in itself is saying that foreigners are problematic.”

While it ended on a different note, some could have still interpreted the commercial differently, he said.

“We don’t want to be party to that.”

Do you find the ad offensive? Watch it on our website, then vote in the poll at www.citizen.co.za.

 – yadhanaj@citizen.co.za