The Democratic Alliance’s new advertisement has divided opinion about whether its disrespectful to the South African flag. In the commercial the flag can be seen burning with a warning about the EFF and Zuma coalition as well as the ANC. Many social media users have decried the advertisement saying its offensive.
DA MP, Leon Scheiber when asked what the metaphorical message was behind the decision to actually approve such an ad said, “Well its quite clear to anyone who views this ad that it signifies what will happen in South Africa if voters sit back on election day or split the vote and allow the MK, ANC and the EFF to form what we term as the Doomsday coalition. It is in that scenario that the ad depicts exactly what will happen to South Africa. With the flag burning and all that it symbolizes, not only our constitutional order but the South African dream itself.
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However, in the final section of the ad you can clearly see the flag unburning, unrolling and returning to its desired state with the solution and the call to action of saying vote for the DA. So it is very clear that this message signifies to South African voters that this is the risk we face on election day and all other elections are choices, the one choice we have is to sit back and allow the doomsday coalition to set our South African dream on fire, and the other choice we have is to preserve and resuscitate the South African dream, signified by the intact flag at the end of the ad and that we can only do by voting for the Democratic Alliance. And its clear to us that this ad has already become one the most hotly discussed and widespread political advertisements perhaps in South African history.”
The DA is the ANC’s main opposition party in South Africa and while some may say the ad is not offensive, many are already of the view that the DA has shot itself in the boot once more. Interesting times ahead of the elections on 29th May.
