ANGELA QUINTAL, Cape Town | Wednesday
THE ignorance or naivet of white people could no longer be an acceptable excuse for continuing racist practices in the advertising industry, Jannie Ngwale, the chairman of The Agency told MPs on Tuesday.
Ngwale was among those who appeared before the National Assembly’s communications committee, which began its two-day hearings into racism in the advertising, marketing and media industries.
While some media consultants, including Chris Moerdyk, warned against legislation at this stage, Ngwale said such a measure might be necessary.
Among those opposed to legislation was committee chairman Nat Kekana, who, in his opening remarks, cautioned against legislative intervention.
Kekana said the hearings were necessary to bring to the surface ”the thorny issues, the anger, frustration the lack of transformation and hopefully a few success stories too”.
”The Human Rights Commission tackled racism in the media, the Gender Commission would like to look deeper into sexism in the industry, but our committee today is encouraging an open dialogue to address the problems,” he said.
Ngwale said the advertising industry had to play an important role in helping to create a non-racial South Africa, ”perhaps more so than most industries because its work is at the heart of shaping ideas”.
The advertising industry continued to be stuck in the now globally redundant notion of a superior race as espoused in the ”bantustan” philosophy.
Real black shareholding and not tokenism was the first necessary step to transformation.
Moreover, there also had to be a commitment to employment equity.
”We cannot continue to argue that there are no blacks fit enough to employ in this industry, if blacks run government, parastatals, the Reserve Bank, mining houses and other businesses.”
The mass media were the biggest culprits in perpetuating racism, Moerdyk said in his submission.
This was neither intentional, nor inherent bigotry, but simply naivet and a lack of understanding of marketing.
The country’s media had an obsession with racial differences, making these into hard and fast rules instead of treating them as the rare marketing exceptions they are.
Mainstream media research which was owned, funded and operated by the country’s leading media owners and marketers, was based on the premise that white, coloured and Indian consumers were different to black consumers.
As long as this form of entrenched, research-based discrimination was perpetuated, South Africa would continue to have media that was marketed on the number of blacks, or alternatively, whites, coloureds and Indians they attracted.
”Racism will not disappear from South Africa’s media until race does.”
Moerdyk said it would be naive to believe the industries were capable of solving the problem themselves.
”These industries are so fraught with political one-upmanship and personal agendas, that it would take forever to get all the main stakeholders to sit down and agree on some form of action.”
Moerdyk suggested the committee appoint a task group — made up of independent specialists not directly employed by any of these industries — to establish guidelines and best practice.
In his submission, Joe Mjwara of the Department of Communication, called for the broadcasting regulator, Icasa, to look at advertising practices in the broadcasting industry.
He also called for an annual barometer of the advertising industry to track advert placements.
In its submission, the Association of Advertising Agencies said media reports that the number of blacks in the industry had dropped from 23%percent 1998 to 21% last year were incorrect.
The figure had in fact increased to 30%.
Meanwhile, the Advertising Standards Authority of SA said that of the 2 064 complaints it had dealt with over the past two years, 25 or 1,2% related to alleged racism.
”Bearing in mind that the ASA deals with television, radio, newspaper, magazine and outdoor advertising, the level of complaints about racism in advertisements would seem to indicate that race and ethnicity is, in general, treated with care.”
The hearings continue on Wednesday. – Sapa