Angry At Advert

WE write to register our repugnance towards the advert that appeared on page TR12 of The Namibian of 10 Augusts 2005.

The advert depicts a VW Polo with the words “Top Speed 850 km/h”. The advert is devoid of any truth and is aimed at misleading people to boost sales.In the first instance, the vehicle is not capable of doing such a speed; secondly, there is no road in Namibia or South Africa, where we believe the advert came from, that can handle such speed; thirdly, travelling at such a speed on the ground is suicidal.It is regrettable that some companies can descend to these levels to attract sales regardless of the possible repercussions that may occur as a result of misinterpretation of the adverts.We just hope that adventurous people out there will not be tempted to test their vehicles at such a speed.We request you to take the issue up with the relevant company.We feel it is unethical to deceitfully persuade people into buying something that is far from what it is said to be and we do not want more people dying on our roads due to excessive speed.For the sake of road safety, it is imperative that we all shoulder our responsibility in discouraging people from travelling at speeds beyond the speed limit on our roads.E S Tendekule Deputy Director National Road Safety CouncilThe advert is devoid of any truth and is aimed at misleading people to boost sales.In the first instance, the vehicle is not capable of doing such a speed; secondly, there is no road in Namibia or South Africa, where we believe the advert came from, that can handle such speed; thirdly, travelling at such a speed on the ground is suicidal.It is regrettable that some companies can descend to these levels to attract sales regardless of the possible repercussions that may occur as a result of misinterpretation of the adverts.We just hope that adventurous people out there will not be tempted to test their vehicles at such a speed.We request you to take the issue up with the relevant company.We feel it is unethical to deceitfully persuade people into buying something that is far from what it is said to be and we do not want more people dying on our roads due to excessive speed.For the sake of road safety, it is imperative that we all shoulder our responsibility in discouraging people from travelling at speeds beyond the speed limit on our roads.E S Tendekule Deputy Director National Road Safety Council