Gupta news channel ad campaign slammed
The Gupta's African News Network 7 (ANN7) has come under fire for its offensive billboard campaign.
This after the South African Older Persons Forum laid a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority and the South African Human Rights Commission against the 24-hour news channel for a billboard campaign along the N1 near Sandton, saying that it discriminated against the elderly.
The Billboard reads: “We aren’t old farts… nah, not even our presenters”.
According to the forum’s Roedolf Kay, the wording on the billboard was tantamount to elder abuse as defined in the Older Persons’ Act No. 13 of 2006.
“It is therefore conceivable that ANN7 has chosen to further degrade the elderly by referring to them in this way. It certainly makes one wonder how empathetic the network will be when handling issues affecting older persons in our country, such as abuse and crime,” said Kay.
The forum wants the removal of all derogatory advertising with immediate effect, including an apology to all older persons in the country.
Efforts to get comment from the news channel’s spokesperson were futile at the time of publication.
