Following a hearing on 23 May, the Advertising Standards Authority Sponsorships Appeals Committee has found MTN guilty of ambush marketing, imitation and creating confusion as to who officially sponsors Bafana Bafana. The company was ordered by the body to pay Vodacom's cost of appeal.
Vodacom, as the official sponsor of SAFA and Bafana Bafana, complained about an advertisement which read "Turning young men into Bafana Bafana", "MTN, proud sponsor of the MTN Cup" and "MTN, proud sponsor of the MTN Under-16 Cup". This created the impression there was a connection between MTN and Bafana Bafana, Vodacom alleged.
MTN said "Bafana Bafana" is the colloquial name of the team, and added that there is no ambiguity in the advertisement, that the event with which MTN is associating itself, is the MTN Cup and the MTN Under-16 Cup. The cellular company also insisted the phrase "Turning young men into Bafana Bafana" refers to its commitment to growing young players into soccer professionals.
However, the committee, presided over by Mervyn King, ruled confusion could be created in the mind of the "hypothetical reasonable reader" that MTN now also sponsors the national side. It also found the cellular company to be in breach of article three of section 10 of the ASA Sponsorship Code that states: "Imitation of the representation of other sponsorships should be avoided if this misleads or generates confusion, even when applied to non-competitive products, companies or events."
"In the cellular industry, advertisers need to be careful in ensuring they are not creating the impression of being the sponsor of a team or event or having a connection with the sponsorship of a major competitor. While it was correct that Vodacom cannot claim an exclusive right to the use of the words 'Bafana Bafana', as argued by MTN, it does not mean a competitor in the same industry can use those words to promote one of its events," says the Advertising Standards Authority.
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