By Nick Wilson.
Image: Instagram/ Casper Nyovest.
The Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) has ordered Cassper Nyovest’s Don Billiato tequila brand to pull its television and social media advertisement featuring the popular rapper and celebrity friends such as Somizi Mhlongo and Toss.
It found the adverts, aired on 11 and 14 April this year on DStv channel 203, as well as on Instagram, used celebrities to glamourise alcohol consumption. This is something that is strictly prohibited in terms of Code On Alcohol Advertising.
At the same time, it took issue with the advert’s implication consuming the beverage would bring the consumer social success.
It follows a complaint to the board from the Drinks Federation of South Africa (DFSA), the representative body of the alcohol industry which aims to foster a culture of responsible drinking and trading locally.
DFSA members include top alcohol beverage groups such as SA Breweries, Heineken Beverages, and Diageo.
According to the ruling, the advertisement in question depicted a group of people all dressed in white, boarding a private airplane.
The “host” character is Nyovest, who welcomes everybody on board, saying: “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Air Billiato, enjoy a taste of wealth.”
The group is seen drinking the tequila, laughing and cheering in an atmosphere which is “very much a party vibe”, the ruling read. The pilot, namely TV show host Somizi Mhlongo, then says to the group: “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Air Billiato.”
In the final scene, South African music artist Toss is seen dancing topless on the wing of the airplane.
‘Responsible’ advertising
At the heart of the DFSA complaint against the advert is that it used celebrities to endorse the product, while also carrying no responsible drinking and underage drinking messages as required by the Code on Alcohol Advertising.
It also took issue with the way some of the actors, including Toss, are dressed in the advert.
In terms of the complaint, the DFSA noted it was “concerned with the use of celebrities and the breach of primary appeal” and it did not feel the advert “reinforces a responsible approach to drinking”.
It also took issue with the implied messaging the alcohol brand had resulted in personal success with the tagline “Taste of Wealth”. The DFSA added it felt the tagline glamourised drinking.
It also argued some of the actors in the advert were inappropriately dressed, pointing to the “near nudity” of one party guest and the topless Toss on the wing of the airplane.
Blue Sky Brand Company, the owner of the Don Billiato, however, argued the majority share owner of the brand was Nyovest, who it added was “South Africa’s leading male musician”.
It argued the brand was one of the “very few black majority owned liquor brands in South Africa and the only one advertised on television”, also saying it was first screened in September 2022.
Blue Sky Brand Company said the actors featured were Nyovest’s friends and no one was paid to be on the plane.
It also argued the “Taste of Wealth” reference was “tongue in cheek, which is enforced with the pilot being Somizi and Toss dancing on the wing”.
As for the allegations about inappropriate attire, Blue Sky said Toss was a retired footballer and the outfit he was wearing in the advert was “iconic” as he was “always seen in that attire”.
It argued it did not know the adverts had to feature an underage statement read in the same voiceover in the same language as the main message. As to there not being any clear responsibility messaging, it said this had been corrected.
Problem areas
The ARB ultimately partially upheld the complaint by DFSA when it came to the issue of celebrity endorsement of the product and the association of personal success with drinking but dismissed the complaint about the attire of some in the advert.
“In the context of the lifestyle, music and dancing portrayed, although arguably not tasteful, the attire does not appear inappropriate.”
Explaining the decision to order that the advert be pulled, ARB CEO Gail Schimmel said often in cases involving complaints about advertisements, an addition of a word or sentence, or the removal of a scene might make an advert more palatable.
In the case of the Don Billiato advert, so many aspects of the ad were problematic and pervasive throughout it “that it needed to be pulled”, she added.
Said Schimmel: For example, this association of wealth and glamour with drinking and social success with drinking that’s pervasive throughout the advertisement is a problem.
She added the ARB hoped the decision would serve as a guideline for how to make future ads for the alcohol industry, saying advertisements could not feature celebrities at all under any circumstances, even if they were owners of the brand being featured.
Schimmel said the reasons why the ARB was enforcing this was to protect underage South Africans as well as the alcohol industry itself.
“We don’t want consumers encouraged, and particularly young, vulnerable consumers.
“We all know what a problem drinking, and teenage drinking, is in this country, so we don’t want those young, vulnerable consumers to think that drinking is going to make them more socially acceptable and that they’re going be like a celebrity.
“The second thing is also to protect the industry because the alcohol industry is under constant scrutiny from government and if the government believes that the alcohol industry is behaving in an irresponsible way, they are going to ban the advertising of alcohol.
“And when one brand goes rogue and advertises like this, then it does harm the entire industry.”
Schimmel said it was important to point out that, in this case, it was not some “uptight customer” who complained about the advertisement, but a large alcohol industry representative body, adding: This is a case of the industry itself saying we are not prepared to put up with this type of advertising.
Explaining why the DFSA had made the complaint, its spokesperson, Angela Russell, said the alcohol industry held itself accountable to a self-regulatory code of conduct.
This code of conduct included a responsibility not to glamourise the consumption of alcohol. At the same time, alcohol products should also not “mislead” the public into thinking the products would bring them social or personal success.
Nyovest had not immediately responded to requests for comment.