an image of Verwoerd might offend the millions of black South Africans affected by his aparteheid rule and killed over race and land ... though what Hilter did was horrible it not happen in the "local market " not too mention the fact that his image as a dictator is more recognisable than Verwoerd and Idi Amin which is probably why it was used in the first place.

you are speaking as if one was better that the other... Lets not diminish what those names mean to the people whose lives they affect...

I agree with you, and for some people Hitlers image still holds as much horror,and lets not forget that black South Africans also fought in that war.

As the Marketing Manager at SA Home Loans, I'd like firstly to apologise for any offense that the "Hitler" advertisement has caused. It certainly wasn’t our intention to offend anyone, and we simply wanted to choose a well-known dictator figure to draw a tongue-in-cheek analogy with inflexible, dictatorial bank managers. We did not anticipate the strong reaction that the use of Hitler would elicit, had we known this we would certainly not have used this figure in the advertisement. In retrospect, we now realise that this advert is highly insensitive and, following a spate of complaints, issued an instruction earlier this week to withdraw this image from our campaign.

The people behind this campaign show an astonishing lack of sensitivity and understanding of their market, as proved by the latest ad showing Fidel Castro as the "dictator".
Far from being seen as a dictator, Castro is seen as a hero by millions of South Africans, and on top of that, Castro is currently seriously ill, so to use his image in this way is crass and offensive. Except an official complaint from the Cuban Embassy soon. What was this company and its agency thinking?

Firstly, I am amazed that any sensible company would sign off on such insensitive work, but I see that the Marketing Manager has taken responsibility for his actions (a rare thing in South Africa these days!). But surely the agency must take responsibility for allowing such an ill conceived idea out of the front door.

Good grief advertising industry, when are you stop this using babies to come up with 'fresh ideas' and start re employing experienced people who would never do anything as stupid? The Creative Director responsible should resign, just like the MD of Eskom, the entire cabinet etc.

Will the creative director stand up and be counted?

I . . . and many others, find explicit sex or sexual innuendos in advertising and media Extremely offensive . . .

Is that removed from the media . . . NO . . . WHY? . . . Because we're told that "sex sells"

Why is there such an out cry about things that wain in comparison to the impact sexual exposure is having on society?

From my point of view . . . I dont know how many other Leaders except for Mogabe and Hitler I know of that I would recognize . . . Hitler is known by all . . . young and old . . . thus the use of his face . . . No one likes him, thus the relation to banks which no-one likes either . . . I dont find this add (from its description - as I havent personally seen it) offensive at all. I personally dont know of anyone still living who was directly effected by Hitler.

What he did was inexcusable, but does that mean we must take him out the history books because he is offensive.

All people have been offended at some time in history . . . it happens. But stop nit picking and deal with issues causing current problems in society.
I havent seen Hitler attack anyone lately . . . But Ive seen the influences of Pornography in varying degrees daily . . . DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT!!!

I was one of those who complained to SAHL about the advert.

I am Jewish, and most of my mother's extended family was wiped out in the Holocaust - her immediate family (her & her brothers and sister) were the only ones who made it out of Poland before the Nazis arrived. And there ARE people still alive in SA who survived the horror of the cconcentration camps. There are plenty of people who will "never forget".

It is as insensitive as trying to use Verwoerd or PW Botha in a "funny" way to South Africans, or the Argentine or Chilean dictators who presided over regimes where thousands went "missing" in those countries.

Your remarks are also sadly naive - those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. Do you not think the fact that Jews were a disproportionately large % of the whites who fought apartheid had something to do with their own history of persecution?

by the way I agree entirely about the objectification of women in adverts. But that doesn't mean everything else falls by the wayside.

The adverts do not promote a positive aspect of the dictators, SAHL are not condoning nor enhancing the ideas or actions of the dictators. They are historic symbols of evil.

I have no problem with using former political nasties in satire. Getting frantic and hurt by these images is akin to worshipping the image of Jesus on a piece of toast.

My initial reaction was that there is nothing wrong with using Hitler in an ad where the purpose is to link a concept to his negative attributes.

Having thought about it, my opinion has changed. I guess the issue is that it diminishes the significance of the past if you link Hitler to a relatively trivial issue like Home Loans.