DA mocked for superhero ad and car giveaway

An advert for the “Superpower” campaign, which appears to be an attempt by the Democratic Alliance (DA) to inspire people to register to vote, has been inspiring ridicule on social media.

An advert shows a black woman who discovers a ballot box on an empty street, places her ballot in it, and then transforms into a superhero, complete with a costume in the DA’s official colour, blue, a South African flag cape and a cast of sidekicks.

Columnist T.O Molefe responded by tweeting about how hilarious he found it, and asked if it was a parody.

In response, journalist Natasha Joseph sent a link to the Superpower website, which appears to be linked to the advert.

On the website, which is headed by a DA logo, there is a Suzuki Swift being given away to registered voters.

The fact that the official DA account shared the link to the Superpower sight and its car giveaway does appear to indicate that it is a campaign originating from the party, something DA MP Phumzile Van Damme also confirmed when contacted by The Citizen.

Van Damme put the Citizen in touch with the DA’s national campaign manager and  Jonathan Moakes, who was not available for comment at the time of publication of this article.

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The superpower video was met with analysis from Molefe upon him discovering it was real. He called it “an absolute hatchet job, at black women’s expense, on the powerful idea of seemingly unlikely superheroes”.

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