Telkom must pull Tanzania ad

Telkom insists that its heartrending (but completely fictitious) ad about the poor little Tanzanian boy being saved from a life of bed-ridden misery by the wonders of technology, telemedicine and Telkom is not misleading.

However, the Advertising Standards Authority disagrees. It found in a ruling yesterday that the advert violates the rules, in that advertising should not, by means of implication or exaggeration, mislead consumers. Telkom must withdraw the advert.

ITWeb first noticed the ad in October, and asked Telkom whether it was a true story. We followed up for the next month - Telkom stalled, with spokesman Ravin Maharaj saying a revised ad was on the way, and stalled again.

In the meantime, consumers complained. Firstly, the technology to do telemedicine is at best in its infancy; secondly, Tanzania does not have ISDN. Thirdly, why is ISDN, a rapidly aging technology, being described as "Touching Tomorrow"?

John Smeddle, creative director for the controversial advert, was unapologetic. He was quoted in a Star newspaper report when the story started to boil over that "Telkom delayed the flighting of the advert for 18 months until their asymmetrical digital system lines were in place. They have acted with complete integrity."

But since the ad was about ISDN, this would imply he is either ignorant of the subject (at least of what ADSL stands for), or being deliberately disingenuous, say critics.