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Cape Town - A complaint against the South African National Roads Agency’s (Sanral) “hit the reset button” advertisement has been dismissed by the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (Asasa).
Earlier in November Sanral flighted an advert to create awareness around the 60% discount on its new e-tolling dispensation.
In the advert Sanral said that e-toll users had six months to settle their debt, would get a 60% discount, and that it would be “just like hitting the reset button”.
WATCH: 60% discount on all historic e-toll debt
“We felt that the complainant had misinterpreted the reference to ‘hitting the reset button’,” ASA manager of dispute resolution Leon Grobler told Fin24.
“She viewed it as an indication that all debt would be scrapped,” he said.
Given the fact that the complainant appears to have missed the point, we never formally investigated the complaint, he said.
Sanral on Monday welcomed the decision saying that over the last 20 months it had seen a “concerted” campaign against its adverts by those opposed to the e-toll system.
“We are pleased with Asasa’s decision to dismiss the complaint,” said roads agency spokesperson Vusi Mona.
Mona said that the 60% discount was an important next phase of the new dispensation.
He said the new dispensation brought relief through the implementation of “a uniform rate of 30c per kilometre for light vehicles, a 50% reduction in the monthly maximum for registered account holders and now for those with outstanding e-toll debt incurred from December 3 2013 until August 31 2015”.
