South African mobile service provider Cell C has been ordered by the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) to withdraw its ‘99c For Real’ advertising campaign, as mobile service provider MTN complained about its content.
MTN laid a complaint against Cell C’s campaign with the ASA, as they claim the advertising aimed to bring the company into disrepute. The television and radio campaigns featured wording poking fun at MTN, and also claimed that Cell C’s packages were superior to MTN.
“MTN is very pleased to inform you that the ASA has ruled in MTN’s favour – agreeing that the television advertisement indeed sought to “trash” the MTN Brand. As a result, the ASA has ordered Cell C to withdraw the advertisement,” MTN said in a statement regarding the television campaign.
The mobile service provider has also been ordered to withdraw its radio campaigns, which the ASA found to be in contravention of Clause 6 of Section ll of the ASA’s code of ethics.
“The ruling on the 99c radio advertisement has also been in MTN’s favour, whereby the ASA found that the Cell C radio commercial disparages MTN’s products, and is therefore in breach of Clause 6 of Section ll. In light of this ruling, Cell C is required to withdraw the radio commercial with immediate effect,” MTN concluded.
Charlie Fripp – Consumer Tech editor
THAT's RIGHT, CONGRATULATIONS MTN.