The South African Coin Corporation has been ordered to withdraw an advertisement about selling a R5 Mandela coin for R100 000, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said on Friday.
In a statement, the ASA said it had received a complaint from a member of the public, Gladwin Kgori, that the advertisement was misleading.
The advertisement said the SA Coin Corporation had sold a R5 Mandela coin for R100 000 and urged people to speak to a broker or contact the corporation.
Kgori said the advertisement was misleading since it could create the impression that all R5 coins depicting former president Nelson Mandela could be sold for R100 000.
The corporation, in its defence, said it did not offer in the advertisement to buy any R5 coins showing Mandela’s face.
The ASA said its investigation found that the coin been sold for R100 000 was a ”proof coin” and not the normal ones generally used as currency.
The authority said since the advertisement stated ”Mandela R5 sells for R100 000” and invited readers to ”call a broker” or ”visit us at SA Coin”, a reasonable person would be likely to interpret it as implying that an ordinary coin was sold for that amount.
”A hypothetical reasonable person might therefore understand the advertisement as an invitation for consumers who own an ordinary Mandela R5 coin to sell their coin through the respondent for an amount in the region of R100 000.”
Based on this, the ASA found the advertisement to be misleading. It ordered that the advertisement be withdrawn with immediate effect and that it may not be used again in its current format. — Sapa