Subscribe

Cell C in hot water

Johannesburg, 20 Apr 2016
Cell C CEO Jose Dos Santos, made the "bitch switch" remark on Monday, as a guest on CliffCentral's Leadership Platform programme.
Cell C CEO Jose Dos Santos, made the "bitch switch" remark on Monday, as a guest on CliffCentral's Leadership Platform programme.

Cell C has landed itself in hot water for a "misleading" billboard, while CEO Jose Dos Santos caused a public backlash and social media riot for sexist comments made during a radio interview on Monday.

Cell C has been instructed to take down a billboard claiming the company has the "widest network coverage" in SA. The Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) ruled the ad "misleading" and ordered the telco to withdraw it and refrain from using it again in its current format.

Meanwhile, Dos Santos was forced to apologise for sexist comments voiced on radio, which included saying women have a "bitch switch" and that employing former Miss South Africa contestants makes men at Cell C dress better and shave every morning.

Hands off the switch

In an interview on Internet radio station CliffCentral's Leadership Platform segment, Dos Santos explained that when he joined Cell C, about 42% of staff were women but now around 60% are female, adding that "at senior executive level we have quite a few women, at middle management we have a lot of women".

"We have good looking women, we have clever women, we have smart women, and that has created a different environment," he went on to say.

The lengthy discussion over Cell C's attempts to empower women in business was soured when he made reference to women's leadership styles, claiming women have a "bitch switch".

"[Women] just have a different way of managing, a different way of engaging in meetings, of engaging with parties. It creates a different dynamic, I mean if I can use the term on your radio station - women do have a bitch switch and boy if you see two women fighting its worse than two men having an argument," he said.

Dos Santos has since apologised for his comments, saying in a statement sent to ITWeb: "I regret my choice of words which I realise were offensive.

"As a CEO with a strong track record in the empowerment of female employees, in South Africa and in many other African countries that I have worked in, I am saddened that my stance has been taken out of context. The comment I made, when asked about women empowerment, was part of a broader interview about leadership on CliffCentral."

This statement stirred up a massive response on Twitter, with the hashtag #BitchSwitch and #CellCCEO trending late into the afternoon.

One Twitter user, Kristia van Heerden, tweeted: "Hopefully #bitchswitch becomes the hashtag for women switching their contracts away from @CellC."

Jenna Bruwer tweeted: "Hi @CellC my #bitchswitch seems to be permanently stuck on 'ON'."

In his apology statement, Dos Santos explains that: "In my experience, I have seen instances where women do not support each other to get to the top. This has purely been my observation and perhaps one of several reasons why women are underrepresented in leadership positions. This is not an environment that was created by women, but one that has been entrenched in the general workplace."

He says this is why he has "put a lot of effort and focus into the empowerment of all employees, but particularly women at Cell C".

This is not the first time Dos Santos has come under fire for his views, having got Cell C's Take a Girl Child to Work Day campaign off on a sour note last year.

Female Cell C CEO

Dos Santos also said in the radio interview that he thinks companies in SA need to empower women.

"We no longer live in the society of the woman staying at home and she has to look after the chores. Today a lot of women are independent, they bring up their kids by themselves, they are financially stable but somehow we failed as a nation to empower them. There are not too many women in leadership roles, and I'm hoping one day when I step down from Cell C that a woman will be the CEO of the company."

Supporters of the CEO took to Twitter to point out his quotes were taken out of context.

"Cell C CEO speaks about empowering women for 20mins but please focus on one sentence without context #bitchswitch," says Lord Roman.

MrSundayAfternoon tweeted: "#CellCCEO I personally don't see anything wrong with his statement. I actually think he expresses confidence in women."

Miss SA at work

The CEO also spoke about the 12-month internship programme Cell C offers to all the finalists of the Miss South Africa competition.

"It brought a whole different atmosphere. Can you imagine you got 12 gorgeous women and say four or five of them walk into your company - do you know what it does to the atmosphere in that company? The men dress better, they shave every morning," Dos Santos said on CliffCentral.

He followed this comment by saying: "All of these women are highly educated, and they just now get given an opportunity, some of the girls that are now permanently employed by us...these girls are dynamic, they are loyal and hardworking, they are smart and they bring an aura to the organisation that wasn't there before."

He says about 30% to 40% of the "young girls" that intern from Miss SA have stayed in the company after their internship and he has seen "some of the top female engineers coming in and giving our seasoned engineers a run for their money".

Not as advertised

The ASA found Cell C's "widest network coverage" claim was misleading.
The ASA found Cell C's "widest network coverage" claim was misleading.

In the second blow to Cell C, advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather Johannesburg, on behalf of Vodacom, lodged a competitor complaint against the Cell C billboard claiming it was misleading to consumers and could not be substantiated.

Vodacom maintains it has the best coverage in SA and Cell C is in fact in fourth position (according to stats from OpenSignal as at 11 March 2016).

However, Clear Copy, on behalf of Cell C, argued the telecoms operator had "fundamentally shifted the goal-posts in terms of cellular coverage by enabling WiFi calling" in October 2015. It argued that as a consequence, "traditional ways of looking coverage claims have to be reassessed".

Cell C felt the claim should be interpreted to mean Cell C has the widest coverage when its 2G, 3G, LTE and WiFi networks are combined with the Vodacom towers relied on for roaming, as well as the thousands of WiFi hotspots available.

However, the ASA ultimately ruled against Cell C because it had not clearly indicated WiFi calling was included in its "widest network coverage" claim.

The ASA said a disclaimer on the billboard that reads: "2G, 3G, LTE and WiFi calling. Terms and conditions apply" was inadequate as it "is minuscule and hidden away at the bottom left-hand corner of the billboard".

"The directorate is not convinced that any reasonable person would notice it, or be able to comfortably read it. This alone casts doubt over whether or not people are likely to interpret the claim to encompass the respondent's typical cellular coverage in addition to its newly activated WiFi calling capacity," the ASA ruled.

The authority further found the absence of any icon or graphic representation of WiFi on the billboard "further negates an argument that the respondent's newly activated WiFi calling capabilities should be included in the equation".

"[Given] the absence of any pertinent reference to WiFi, consumers would likely interpret the claim to be a reference to the respondent's typical/traditional cellular coverage."

The ASA ultimately found the "widest network coverage" claim was misleading and in breach of Clause 4.2.1 of Section II of the Code, which reads: "Advertisements should not contain any statement or visual presentation which, directly or by implication, omission, ambiguity, inaccuracy, exaggerated claim or otherwise, is likely to mislead the consumer."

Share