South Africans were quick to pull the trigger on restaurant chain Simply Asia when they released their latest radio advert.

According to complaints made to the Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB), people found the advert offensive due to the use of a “fake” Thai accent, which supposedly stereotyped Asian people.

Here’s where it gets awkward – there was nothing fake about the accent, reports Business Insider SA.

Before we go on, have a listen to the original advert, which wasn’t so much banned as replaced:

The problem seems to be that the advert did not explicitly state that the person talking is in fact a Thai chef who works for Simply Asia.

…several listeners thought there was nothing authentic about the voice in the ad, which sounds as if it was recorded in a busy kitchen. One listener demanded that the ARB, which has the power to effectively ban offensive advertisements, should intervene.

In its defence, the ARB said, Simply Thai pointed out that its owner is a Thai national who would not make fun of his own culture. Yet the chain had already created a new version of the radio ad, because of other complaints it had already received.

You can hear the new version of the advert here:

They shouldn’t have had to replace the ad in the first place, but I hope everyone is happy with the tweak.

The ARB doesn’t always get it right. Take their failure to deal with NetFlorist’s offensive advertising, for example.

This time, however, they were on the money. This wasn’t racist.

[source:businessinsider]