- OUTsurance advertised its pointsmen service repeatedly on CapeTalk, telling listeners the Pointsmen were “on your route”.
- OUTsurance confirmed the service was not available in Cape Town and operated only in Paarl and Stellenbosch in the Western Cape.
- The Advertising Regulatory Board found the omission misleading and ordered the advertisements withdrawn.
OUTsurance told Cape Town motorists that its pointsmen could help ease traffic congestion, even though the service was not operating in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Area.
The insurer confirmed that its Western Cape pointsmen were limited to Paarl and Stellenbosch, while CapeTalk advertisements claimed the pointsmen were “on your route” and helping listeners get where they needed to go “quickly and safely”.
The Advertising Regulatory Board upheld the complaint on 23 September 2026, finding that the advertisements created a misleading impression by giving Cape Town listeners no indication that the service was unavailable in their metropolitan area.
The adverts repeatedly presented the service as available
The campaign included 30-second radio commercials and live reads on CapeTalk. One version said the “OUTsurance pointsmen are here to save the day” and that they had been easing traffic congestion for 20 years. Another told listeners, “With the OUTsurance pointsmen on your route, at least the traffic is one less thing to stress about”.
A further series used “Clever excuses for being late” before telling listeners they no longer needed excuses because the Pointsmen were on the roads. The campaign also told motorists the pointsmen could help them get where they needed to go quickly and safely.
OUTsurance confirmed Cape Town was not covered
The complainant said the advertising created the impression that pointsmen were providing a traffic-easing service in Cape Town, even though they had not operated in the metropolitan area for more than 10 years. The complaint also said the advertisements aired repeatedly, reinforcing that impression.
OUTsurance confirmed that the service was not provided in Cape Town and was limited to Paarl and Stellenbosch. The company argued that the 20-year statement referred to the programme’s history, established in 2005 by Traffic FreeFlow in partnership with OUTsurance, and did not claim that pointsmen operated in a particular area.
OUTsurance also argued that the advertisements did not expressly mention Cape Town and that a reasonable listener would not assume the service covered the entire broadcast area of a radio station.
ARB says the missing warning made the difference
The directorate accepted that the 20-year claim was historically accurate and that Cape Town was not expressly named. However, it said the overall impression had to be assessed in the context in which the advertising was broadcast.
CapeTalk’s primary listenership is closely associated with Cape Town. The directorate found that telling those listeners the pointsmen were “on your route”, without any geographic qualification, could create the impression that the service was available to them.
The ARB accepted that a 30-second advert could not list every municipality where pointsmen operated. However, it said OUTsurance should have indicated that the service did not extend to the metropolitan area from which CapeTalk drew its primary audience.
The directorate therefore found the advertising misleading by omission under the Code of Advertising Practice.
OUTsurance ordered to withdraw the adverts
OUTsurance was instructed to withdraw the advertisements in their current format from CapeTalk and any other radio station primarily targeted at Cape Town.
The withdrawal was required immediately, subject to broadcast scheduling deadlines.
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