The South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) has responded to a Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruling its e-tolling adverts mislead the public, saying this was not the intention.
HumanIPO reported earlier today the ASA had received three complaints against advertising commercials produced by SANRAL, ruling in favour of the complainants on all counts.
According to SANRAL over 1.2 million e-tags have been taken up and misunderstandings had to do with misinterpretation of terminology.
“As SANRAL we are extremely aware of the scrutiny our advertising is exposed to and as a result we continuously strive to provide information which we believe is truthful and accurate,” said SANRAL spokesperson Vusi Mona.
“SANRAL has no intention to mislead the public. We take note of all conditions of the law and will continue to comply.”
The roads agency said the manner in which “e-tag sales” had been reported on in the past had been highly sensationalist.
The agency said that term “e-tag sales” refers to the tags sold, and is not inclusive of registrations, while e-toll “registrations” does not just include vehicles fitted with e-tags but also those that have registered e-toll accounts.
Lastly, its said “e-tags taken up” refers to all of those registered on the e-toll system, “and might or might not include e-tags taken up by key account holders, registered on their system, but not necessarily registered on the e-toll system, and might or might not include e-tags “sold” at the retailers, again that might not be linked to a vehicle or registered on the e-toll system”.
“As can be seen, the terminology used might be confusing to any person and our detractors used the reporting, to question our honesty,” it said.
Mona said the accusations SANRAL is dishonest are concerning and the agency takes them very seriously.
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