Xpanda, a local security barrier company who are taking a lot of heat for their massive failure of a radio ad (listen here) have released a statement, clarifying their position on the matter.

Here it is:

Xpanda Security South Africa We sincerely thank you for the correspondence and thoughts regarding the radio ad we have just flighted.

It is VERY IMPORTANT though to understand that we have by no means singled out any one ethnic group, as we have recorded 4 ads in total for this campaign (a white Afrikaans male, an Indian, a black male and a Coloured) who all explain how they ended up in jail. This means that we have covered all the major ethnic groups in South Africa and have NOT singled out one group from another.

We honestly feel that you will be a bit more enlightened and feel less aggrieved once you hear the other 3 ads.

That being said, crime is such a sensitive topic in the country at the moment – so all we intended doing was adding a bit of humour to what is normally a very bleak topic.

We apologize that you feel offended but can assure you that once you hear the entire campaign – and hear the white guy, the indian guy and the coloured guy – you will feel more at ease.

Everyone who recorded/worked on these ads (white, black, coloured) had a blast doing them and shared the same view as we do – and that is that we are ALL South Africans, and we all add a unique flavour to this diverse and amazing country that we live in.

We will be releasing the other radio ads shortly and hope you will have a better, holistic understanding of the campaign once you hear the rest of the ads, and will be at peace knowing no single group of people were singled out.

Great, we can’t wait to hear the ads with “the white guy, the indian guy and the coloured guy”.

In a nut shell, Xpanda doesn’t regret the ad.

But here’s the money shot: “That being said, crime is such a sensitive topic in the country at the moment – so all we intended doing was adding a bit of humour to what is normally a very bleak topic.”

Of course, they chose to do this by using “madam”, “boss”, and a gross parody of a black accent, which definitely doesn’t assume that black people are the face of crime.

Oh, and they didn’t see fit to mention their radically sexist print ad, because teens get knocked up all the time.

[Thanks, Martin]