African Cristal Festival - Eoin Welsh, Havas Worldwide

1. REALITY CHECK:
South African advertising as a reflection of society - then & now
VILLAGE
SOUTH AFRICA

2. These are some of the commercials
I grew up with.
VILLAGE
SOUTH AFRICA
I grew up in 80’s South Africa.

8. Notice anything?
VILLAGE
SOUTH AFRICA
Or let’s put the question another way.
If you were an alien whose only frame of reference
for SA society was these commercials –
how would you describe SA?

9. VILLAGE
SOUTH AFRICA
MIDDLE-CLASS …
COMFORTABLE …
AND VERY … VERY …

10. VILLAGE
SOUTH AFRICA
WHITE.

11. VILLAGE
SOUTH AFRICA
But here’s the thing.
Turns out we do have issues.
Like corruption.
HIV/AIDS.
Education.
Serious crime.
An electricity crisis.
Lack of economic growth.

12. And surprise, surprise …
VILLAGE
SOUTH AFRICA
There are some black people in SA.
Quite a few actually …
… about 80% of the population.
(Compared to white people, who make up less than 9%)

13. VILLAGE
SOUTH AFRICA
These figures, truths and issues are not new.
They’ve always been with us.
Rest assured, we’re working on them.
It’s just that back then, in the bad old days,
South African advertising was far from a realistic
reflection of the truth.

14. VILLAGE
SOUTH AFRICA
So 3 decades on, has anything changed?
Let’s have a look …

15. ETHNIC DIVERSITY

16. EDUCATION

18. HIV/AIDS

19. POLITICIANS

21. EVERYDAY LIFE

23. ACHIEVEMENTS

24. LOAD SHEDDING

25. WHAT MAKES US, US

26. VILLAGE
SOUTH AFRICA
Thankfully, the answer is -
YES.

27. VILLAGE
SOUTH AFRICA
Denial is dead.
Our advertising now reflects our nation for what it is.
The good, the bad and the ugly.
It shows that we’ve stopped pretending, and learned
to embrace our diversity, our problems, our failures
and our triumphs.
In short, we’re embracing the truth.

28. VILLAGE
SOUTH AFRICA
And the truth is the more exciting springboard for
great work of all.

29. VILLAGE
SOUTH AFRICA
Thanks!