Reports on First National Bank’s (FNB) "You Can Help” campaign need to differentiate between television advertisements and survey clips, the bank said on Tuesday (29/01/2013).
”Some media reports fail to differentiate between the TV advert itself and the survey interview clips, and it is important to provide this clarity,” FNB chief marketing officer Bernice Samuels said in a statement. The New Age reported on Tuesday that the advert was scripted and that the children who participated were paid R3500 a day.
Samuels confirmed that the advert was scripted "based on key themes from the survey conducted by an independent research firm”. ”The children who took part in the TV advert received performance fees and [this] is standard industry practice.”
Samuels said the children’s survey interview clips were not scripted. ”We further clarify that the survey conducted captured all 1300 of the respondents interviewed and their responses on camera. These responses were their own views and were not scripted or censored,” she said. ”We confirm that the children were not paid to participate in the survey.”
Samuels reportedly said that while the casting interviews were ”unscripted, uncensored and very much from the heart”, the final advert was scripted and approved by the bank’s marketing team.
The newspaper reported that a call sheet from Take Ten Casting confirmed that "the advert was in no way a spontaneous or natural gathering of young South Africans”, but that each participant was ”carefully selected”.
FNB met African National Congress leaders, including secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, about the adverts on Thursday, and apologised to the ANC on Friday. - Sapa
