A food production outfit in Pretoria found themselves in seriously hot water this month, after a religious group complained to the Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) about one of Kota Joe’s recent billboard campaigns. The advertisement includes an image of a woman lying on a couch eating their “Waffle on a Stick”.

Why Kota Joe have bitten off more than they can chew

The Reformed Church in Annlin states that Kota Joe’s use of a suggestive image and their slogan of a woman on a billboard advertisement is offensive, unsavoury and degrading toward women. The Complainant further alleges that the relationship between food and the size of the billboard is quite insignificant.

The Respondent denied all the Complainant’s allegations, arguing that not all advertising will appeal to all people and that they have in fact received several compliments on the billboard advertisement. Kota Joe denied that the advertisement encourages any activity that may be harmful to a woman or is degrading to women and further that it does not generalise any gender stereotyping or negative gender portrayal.

Kota Joe, by the way, are no strangers to a provocative advert…

Banned billboard in Pretoria

It was up to the ARB to mediate, and they’ve found in favour of the Reformed Church. The decision was made on 22 November, and the guilty party were given two weeks to remove the billboard. According to the governing body, the “rather phallic” implications from Kota Joe were enough to get the poster taken down.