by Thinus Ferreira
South Africa's Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) has decided that MultiChoice's streaming service Showmax can keep its bloody billboard that Showmax used to try and promote some of its true-crime content although passers-by found it disturbing and offensive.
The ARB received two complaints from members of the public about Showmax's billboard appearing on highways in East London and Johannesburg.
The public were put off and disturbed by Showmax's ghastly advertising, with the first complainant asking "How on earth is it legal to put this gruesome image up for everyone (yes even children 0-15) to see?"
The second complainant said "I did not give consent to see this image that I find gory, offensive and disturbing. Neither did my children who are minors. The show has a 16V age limit on it, so why is this disturbing image allowed for everyone to see?"
Showmax told the ARB that the bloody Rosemary's Hitlist image with blood-filled hands and arms "are intended for promotional purposes only".
Showmax said that "It is obvious that an image containing blood will offend some people. For the same reason, an advertisement with any sexual connotations (regardless of how minor or how inadvertent it may be) will offend some people".
"It is equally obvious that the standard for adjudicating whether any particular advertisement contravenes the Code cannot reasonably be (and is, in fact, not) that advertisement is offensive to someone or anyone. By their very nature, advertisements (and indeed artistic material in general) will be offensive to some people".
Showmax said that "The display of blood (and indeed the impugned image as a whole) is not gratuitous or graphic in any way. The display of blood is clearly relevant in the context of the product (namely a documentary about murder) which it seeks to promote".
"Therefore, the display of blood, in the context of a promotional advertisement of a documentary about murder, would not be offensive to the average, reasonable person in a manner that the Code seeks to prevent."
"The impugned image in and of itself is not offensive. No graphic details of a murder are depicted. Indeed, no violence whatsoever is depicted. The image merely hints at the subject matter of the documentary without itself depicting any acts of violence."
Showmax didn't comment on the public saying that they don't want to see this.
The ARB noted that "the image is certainly not a pleasant one, and is in some ways unsettling". The ARB found that the "image is not universally offensive and is not in contravention of Clause 1 of Section II of the Code".
"The directorate is aware that the image is not a particularly pleasant one to look at, and that children might have questions about why the woman has blood on her hands."
"However, in the absence of actual violence being depicted, and because the blood itself is not a realistic representation of violence, it is possible to answer those questions without going into any detail about the story behind the series. As stated above, a young child will not make the leap from the blood to imagining the violence implied by the context."
"The directorate therefore finds that the image is not morally harmful to children and is not in contravention of Clause 14.1.1.1 of Section II of the Code."
