Cape Town – Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Member of Parliament (MP) Mbuyiseni Ndlozi has said that the advertising industry must be fined an amount of no less than R50 billion if found perpetuating racism.
According to News24, Ndlozi tabled the proposal on Monday during the first sitting of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) probe into complaints regarding racial discrimination within the country’s advertising industry.
“…For having practised racism, the advertising industry since the advent of democracy, they must be forced to pay compensation as a sign of remorse. It must be directed to black communities. We have a proposal that the whole sector must be fined an amount of no less than R50 billion for racism, which can be prove,” Ndlozi said.
Ndlozi further said that 50% of the compensation must be given to the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), and the other 50% must be distributed among black-owned community radio stations.
Times Live reported that the inquiry was sparked by controversy in the industry from the 2018 H&M campaign which featured a black boy modelling a hoodie with the slogan “coolest monkey in the jungle”, to the 2022 Clicks advertisement for TRESemmé hair products depicting a white women’s hair as “normal” and a black women’s as “frizzy and dull”.
Watch the full video of SAHRC’s probe into racism in the advertising industry below:
Follow African Insider on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
Picture: Twitter/ @EFFSouthAfrica
Compiled by Sinothando Siyolo
