FNB ads scripted, kids paid

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doubletrouble

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Johannesburg - Schoolchildren were paid to make certain statements in the videos used in First National Bank’s (FNB) controversial "You Can Help" advertising campaign, it was reported on Tuesday.

The New Age reported that the videos were scripted and that the children were paid R3 500 a day to appear in the videos.

FNB chief marketing officer Bernice Samuels reportedly told the newspaper it was industry standard to pay performers in an advertisement.

Last week, FNB said an independent company had surveyed youth aged 10 to 22 to understand who they were and how they felt about South Africa and its future.

The bank said they were told they could talk freely, without fear or favour, and that "unscripted and uncensored" videos used in the campaign emerged from this process.

However, Samuels reportedly told The New Age that while the casting interviews were "unscripted, uncensored and very much from the heart", the final advert was scripted and was approved by the bank's marketing team.

According to The New Age, to a call sheet from Take Ten Casting confirmed "the advert was in no way a spontaneous or natural gathering of young South Africans", but that each participant was "carefully selected".

FNB met ANC leaders, including secretary general Gwede Mantashe, about the adverts on Thursday, and apologised to the party on Friday. http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/FNB-ads-scripted-kids-paid-20130129
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The story does come from the New Age though, but it will be interesting to see how FNB responds to this.
 
I suspected this from the outset - there is no way that FNB would leave their brand's image at the behest of a few unscripted kids.

This is atrocious if true though...
 
I think there's a bit of spindoctoring here.

For example; FNB Cherry Picked 20 kids, told them to say whatever they wanted.
10 were Anti-ANC, 10 were Pro-ANC - FNB picked the Anti-ANC ones, and took the videos home
5 said something that was borderline enough to not be legally considered slander
Those 5 were put to air
 
My understanding is that there were various aspects to this campaign. One being the advert on TV (with the girl standing in front of her school making a speech), which I assumed was obviously scripted. The other aspect was the videos of kids sharing their unscripted views which were shared on a blog. These have been removed and I never got to see them so could not comment on whether they were scripted.

Are all these things being lumped into the same discussion here?
 
abzo said:
Wasn't it obvious? Which is why when this ad first aired, I said:
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abzo, as per my post above, there are different aspects to this campaign. I do not think the advert on TV is the one that is being disputed. That is obviously scripted.
 
ClintZA said:
abzo, as per my post above, there are different aspects to this campaign. I do not think the advert on TV is the one that is being disputed. That is obviously scripted.
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If that one was so obviously scripted then why would people believe that the rest weren't?
 
abzo said:
If that one was so obviously scripted then why would people believe that the rest weren't?
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Because we got to view that one and it was apparent. The others were whipped off the blog before anyone had a chance to see them so we cannot judge for ourselves. Instead we are left listening to the ANCs witch hunt outcomes.
 
deni-do said:
Tell that to News24. Them and IOL are the two sites I use for my news reading pleasure.
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Could be MSN/Sky/CNN the source of this information is:

The New Age reported that the videos were scripted and that the children were paid R3 500 a day to appear in the videos.
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alf101 said:
R3500 a fcdking day???!!!!!!!!
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my daughters did a TV advert a few years ago when they were about a year old, they were paid R14,000.00 for 2 days work. We invested the money for them they will have a nice 21st birthday present.
 
It comes from the new age of corruption. WTF will they pay me to read their statement? :D
 
This is diverting from the real issue at hand. The fact the government can ***** slap companies freedom of expression is the real issue.
 
2012 said:
This is diverting from the real issue at hand. The fact the government can ***** slap companies freedom of expression is the real issue.
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Too true.

This picture is all too familiar - just look at countries where freedom of speech have been lost .... it all starts off slowly and builds up ... first the critics get reprimanded verbally in the media, then they force them to apologise or else the critics in question lose something (e.g. a license, etc) and in the end people start being physically threatened or worse.
 
Isn't there a law that says you have to pay kids who partakes in commercials?
 
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