Just banter: OUTsurance loses court bid to remove Katlego Maboe lookalike ad

An advert that has been talked about for the past week, in which comparison site Hippo pokes fun at OUTsurance’s infamous adverts with media personality Katlego Maboe, is staying on our screens.

Considered one of the top insurance companies in the country, OUTsurance did not find Hippo’s advert funny. 

Hippo featured an actor that looked similar to Maboe, in what was a clear spoof of their advertisements. 

Following the format of OUTsurance’s ad, Hippo has the Maboe lookalike discussing ways to save on vehicle insurance. The woman driving the vehicle realises she can do this herself if she researched quotes on Hippo. The woman then confronts the man about the savings and then tells him “out”.

OUTsurance applied for an urgent application at the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria asking for the ad to be removed on television.

TshiaLIVE reported the application was struck off the roll, with OUTsurance being ordered by the court to pay the costs of the application. 

The insurance company believed the ad was an infringement of their brand properties and is misleading. OUTsurance spokesperson, Natasha Kawulesar, told the publication the Hippo ad was in bad taste and put the industry in a “bad light”.

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“We support healthy and fair competition but do not believe this campaign satisfies regulatory and legislative requirements. Some of the content is inaccurate and clearly draws inference to OUTsurance and, by association, places us in a bad light with consumers. This is our point of exception.”

Hippo said their goal was to inform consumers of the different insurance options available to them and that they are not an insurance company. 

“It just provides a comparison tool that fetches quotes from 11 insurers and presents them to the consumer to help them make an informed decision. After that, the choice is theirs to make.”

Twitter users felt the advert was just good fun and banter. 

Compiled by Sandisiwe Mbhele