Making fun of whites’ struggle to pronounce words such as "Mpumalanga" is not racist‚ says the advertising watchdog.An Eskom radio ad that poked fun at coloured‚ black‚ white and Indian accents drew a complaint from listener Andre Stuart‚ who was offended by a jab at the white male’s pronunciation. He said the commercial was unlawful based on race as it asserted that "white people do not know how to pronounce Mpumalanga".However, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said Stuart had had a sense of humour failure. "The fact of the matter is that many first-language English and Afrikaans speakers do struggle with the ‘mp’ sound‚ and the result is amusing to other groups‚" the ASA directorate said in its ruling. "To highlight this is in a humorous way is not offensive or discriminatory."The advertisement‚ which aired in March on East Coast Radio in KwaZulu-Natal‚ said: "Like a plumber needs a crack‚ ag sies man [a coloured male accent imitated]. Like a politician needs a struggle a...
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