Thanks for your e-mail and advice on our recent local (only South Africa) advertising billboard.
Please let us clarify that the message on this billboard refers to the characteristics of vehicles manufactured in various countries. American vehicles are famous for being large in size and as a result are not recognized as very fuel efficient. These characteristics are in no way insulting to American vehicles but are regarded as a general perception of the authentic American vehicle.
smart is a Euro-centric brand and this message aimed to portray the brand image and product characteristics. This billboard was produced by the South African smart organisation and formed part of a local campaign that promotes the smart forfour vehicle features and brand personality.
South Africa hosts a rainbow nation with a melting pot of cultures, races, religious denominations and differences. Its constitution respects each and every individual citizen. As such, the South African smart organisation is also very sensitive to the basic principle of tolerance and understanding and the billboard would never have been permitted to go to production if it was an affront to these principles.
Nevertheless we had to realize that the message on the billboard was not understood and totally misinterpreted. As you might know, we at smart are part of a German-American company and do have customers around the world as well as American employees. Never was it our intention to insult any of these customers, employees or the American public. Therefore please note that we have withdrawn all concerned billboards as soon as the first complains came up and please let us apologize for any confusion or affront caused.
Kindly accept our apologies and take for granted that we will be more careful with our choice of marketing claims in the future.
Thank you for your understanding and best regards,
smart infocenter team.