We Buy Cars under fire after ‘mocking white refugees’ in ad [video]

· The South African

We Buy Cars has come under fire for a controversial advert depicting South African refugees in the US.

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The ad first appeared last month, just days after the FIFA World Cup kicked off in the US, Canada and Mexico. Like many brands, the car-buying company is known for incorporating current affairs, politics, pop culture, and South African humour into its marketing and advertising.

WE BUY CARS ADVERTISEMENT: SAFFAS, REFUGEES REUNITE IN THE US

On its YouTube account and across its social media platforms, We Buy Cars posted a video advertisement titled “Selling makes dreams come true”

In the clip, a black South African family, wearing green-and-gold supporter T-shirts, arrives at an airport in the US. Waiting in arrivals for them is a white family.

The black father, played by actor Themba Nomfemele, tells the white dad, played by veteran star Dirk Stoltz, that he flew to the US to watch Bafana Bafana in action, after selling his car.

Stoltz, playing the role of a “refugee”, casually responded: “Trump flew us over. He thinks we’re going to stay.

He added: “No! We only came over to watch the World Cup. And he’s paying!”

Watch the full We Buy Cars ad below…

The advert was produced by the Freckle Agency, co-founded by actor and musician Bouwer Bosch and muso and writer Bennie Fourie.

The production company shared on its Instagram account: “We had so much fun creating this commercial”.

BACKLASH: ‘DEHUMANISING AND RACIST’

While many loved the humour in the We Buy Cars advert, others have voiced their anger and disappointment at the company “mocking” refugees.

Former DA MP Renaldo Gouws and US YouTuber and refugee commentator Chris Wyatt both reacted with videos condemning the ad as “racist” and “disrespectful”.

Here’s what others said on the X platform

@RiseAgainstEvil: “Your ‘rainbow nation’ ad could have united people selling cars to chase dreams. Instead, you chose to stab white refugees in the back, implying they’re all frauds gaming the system. Your smug skit is FAKE and foul”

@_Kermit55: “Demonising refugees as ‘white opportunists’ is dehumanising and racist. Are you going to mock farm murder victims next?”

@Bronx_wrangler: “This was done in bad taste. This business did a lot of damage to its brand, making jokes about people leaving SA on the refugee programme”.

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