Skhumba and Ntuli nabbed for taking lottery money without disclosure.

By Ntando Thukwana.

Image Supplied.

Paid social media videos promoting South Africa’s national lottery and flighted on comedians Skhumba Hlophe and Celetse Ntuli’s Twitter accounts breached the code on South African advertising, a regulator has ruled.

In the Twitter videos, Hlophe and Ntuli both failed to declare the Lotto adverts were sponsored. Responding to a complaint, the Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) has now told its members the promos should “should not be accepted for publication”, the only action open to it as neither of the celebrities nor lottery operator Ithuba are members.

The videos were part of an Ithuba campaign that sought to illustrate how the money it makes from ticket sales gets distributed. It involved three South African comedians: Schalk Bezuidenhout, Ntuli, and Hlophe, who all explained in separate videos how each R5 spent on a lottery ticket is split.

It further explains that it contributes towards Lotto winnings, retailer commissions, the lottery’s operational costs, and supporting various causes and charity organisations.

Of the three public figures, Bezuidenhout, with more than 12,000 followers on Twitter, was the only comedian whose video had a #AD identifier and has the lottery’s official account tagged.

With Hlophe’s Twitter following of over 207,000 Ntuli’s of more than 68,000, plus Bezuidenhout’s smaller following, the campaign’s #KnowYourLottery trended at the top in South Africa between 11 and 13 August.

South Africa’s advertising code for social media and influencer marketing stipulates that the hashtags #AD, #Advertisement or #Sponsored are included in postings.

In its ruling, the ARB said the ads were clearly not organic posts, and Ithuba’s Lotto logo and the numbered lottery balls in the background made it even worse.

“However, this is only likely to be discovered after having watched any particular video in its entirety, meaning that consumers are not provided with the necessary indicators to immediately realise that this is sponsored or paid-for content, and not organic social media,” it said.

Although some viewers may assume that the content is sponsored, “this is not made clear in the manner required by the Code,” the ARB said.

The ad regulator also took issue with the fact that the promos were posted on the artists’ Twitter pages, which it says may strengthen follower’s assumptions about the content being organic and free. 

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