Gillian Farquhar and Jacquie Golding-Duffy report on whether advertising agents are adapting their creative work in an effort to keep up to date with changes locally
THE “new” South Africa born two-and-a-half years ago has brought with it a different set of social and cultural dynamics into the advertising arena.
An industry which was predominantly white in several sectors: media planning, strategy, buying and directorships – for many years, has now been forced to adapt to the changes in the consumer market and start recognising the large bulk of potential black consumers.
Whether South Africa’s advertising agencies have kept pace with the demands of the black consumer market in the new era is debatable.
Advertising analyst John Farquharson recently charged that the industry’s advertising creativity was lagging behind the reality of the market-place. Too much of today’s advertising still reflects “first world” creative thinking and “Eurocentric” marketing concepts that are ineffectual in the “black” market, he says.
“The language subtleties and nuances that drive Eurocentric marketing miss the mark when aimed at consumers of other cultures. Advertisers should express themselves within a more ‘Afrocentric’ paradigm but ultimately aim to produce ads in the idiom of this country,” he says.
But, while many advertising agencies agree that creating a “South African idiom” in advertising is the way forward, they also point out that “talking in broad strokes about the industry is inappropriate”.
Why? Because the approach agencies take is gauged on the specifics of product and target audience and, therefore, broad advertising does not always meet market needs.
Media director of advertising agency Bosman Johnson, John van Niekerk, says market research shows that bigger differences are often found between age and class and rural and urban consumers than between different culture groups.
Head of black-controlled advertising agency Herdbouys, Peter Vundla, agrees.
He argues that there is still an “inordinate emphasis” on western values in advertising, adding that the issue is not a straightforward one of “Eurocentric versus Afrocentric”. The industry should aim for “an eclectic approach” by drawing on all South Africa’s cultures to create a common “South Africanism” in advertising.
To get to the South African advertising idiom, advertising creative directors and others in the industry must understand the country’s diverse cultures. However, the majority of advertisers do not, says Vundla. He adds that most advertisers are often unable to digest the array of cultures in the country and are unable to sell some of their products to the black consumer because they are misinformed.
“They [advertisers] are out of touch at a certain level with black consumers,” he says.
Some media observers agree with Vundla, arguing that there still exists a tendency in the advertising market to target difference rather than commonality.
Some advertisers simply solve their problem (of finding a common framework) by creating separate ads for black and white markets. Despite the fact that the industry claims to be spending more on market research then ever before, prejudices do slip through.
Take the pair of Palmolive adverts first flighted last year: both feature a woman soaping herself in the bath and singing. She then suddenly realises she is not alone in the bathroom.
In the advertisement aimed at black consumers, it’s the woman’s child who disturbs her. In the version featuring the white model, it is the partner who is looking on admiringly. A former Herdbouys department director, Happy Ntshingila, questioned the “thinking that sex doesn’t sell to blacks”.
Another example of adapting adverts according to race is the Tedelex advertisement in which the advert, aimed at black consumers, shows a man watching television while his furniture is being repossessed. He only reacts to what is happening around him when the television set is removed. “This shows a clear misunderstanding of African culture,” says Ntshingila. “In the township there is nothing funny or amusing about having furniture repossessed. It happens to people every day and it’s very embarrassing.”
Lindsay Smithers creative director Nick Walsh admits that the industry is sometimes at fault, adding that there is a “strong desire” to bring black creators in to create the necessary balance and insight. Walsh argues that despite criticism of the industry, many of South Africa’s most popular adverts have come out of “white” agencies.
Vundla concedes that the industry is “waking up” and changing for the better. Perhaps a good indicator of this is the emergence of a specifically new South Africa humour in adverts such as Lindsay Smithers’ highly successful “Yebo gogo” Vodacom advert which makes a laughing stock of an arrogant and ignorant white bagel; Bosman Johnson’s “amagluglug” ad and the Hunt Lascaris Nando’s ads that make fun of South African foibles, like “Chicks rule OK?” for Women’s Day last year.
Furthermore, Walsh argues that global adverts prove that the “universal approach” is possible, but that it is more the exception than the rule.
Saatchi & Saatchi managing director William Leach espouses a “universal” approach to advertising concepts, saying that, “great ideas transcend the boundaries of race, culture and age”. He cites Coke adverts and the award-winning British Airways Face commercial run in 159 countries, in which people come together to form a face and then a globe followed by a British Airways logo flashing across the screen.
Leach maintains the universal model is generally applicable. Using simple visuals and messages, and an emotive approach, is the key to successful adverts, he says. The concepts of Eurocentric and Afrocentric in adspeak are old-fashioned, and using different adspeak for black and white consumers is patronising, he says.
Leach discounts the relevance of race and culture in the advertising equation. The youth market from Soweto to Sandton have more aspirations in common than not, he says.