Drawing the line between fun and offensive marketing

This provision was recently tested in a complaint filed about Chicken Licken's Legend of Big John reverse colonialism advert. The advert portrays a young and confident African man, Big John, in the year 1650, leaving the continent on a boat"to satisfy his hunger for adventure".

His travels lead him to discover a foreign land, namely Holland, which he decides to call"Europe". The consumer complained the advert"makes a mockery of the struggles of the African people against colonisation by the Europeans in general, and the persecutions suffered at the hands of the Dutch in particular".

In defence, Chicken Licken said it was in no way intended to make a mockery of this but to show that SA"has all the potential to conquer the world and rewrite history from an African perspective". According to the fast-food chain, the underlying purpose was"to create a sense of pride and patriotism".

The directorate of the ARB recognised that the advert was a parody"crafted with the intentions of being humorous" but found that the reality of colonisation was not something that can be rewritten or trivialised.What is considered moral or offensive changes with time.

It is important for brand owners to take the social and political landscape into consideration. Avoiding egg-on-face situations will be easier if people from diverse cultural and social backgrounds are sitting at the creative table.

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