In this parody of an American travel show profiling the sites and attractions of South Africa, the host makes assorted mistakes and shares erroneous information as he makes his way through–or more accurately, bungles about–the country. There’s one scene for example where he inadvertently brushes his sandwich against ancient cave hieroglyphics. In another scene he butchers the pronunciation of a province repeatedly even after being told twice by a local how to properly say it.
A voiceover intervenes with a call to locals–who know the country–to travel about South Africa, “They’re exploring our country. Why don’t you?” An end tag contains the website address and a toll-free number for Kulula, a low cost airline in South Africa.
“American” is one of three travel show takeoffs–the other two spots centering on ill informed hosts of tourist tip programs in Japan and Sweden. Their common bond is that they are all embarrassingly ignorant of South Africa. All three commercials were directed by Anton Visser of Velocity Films, Cape Town and Johannesburg, for agency King James, Cape Town.
The agency ensemble consisted of executive creative director Alastair King, art director Greg Cameron, creative head/copywriter Paige Nick and producer Sam Kelly.
Prenneven Govender produced for Velocity. The DP was Michael Cleary.
Editor was James Hosking of Left Post Production, Cape Town.
Supreme Court Allows Multibillion-Dollar Class Action Lawsuit To Proceed Against Meta
The Supreme Court is allowing a multibillion-dollar class action investors' lawsuit to proceed against Facebook parent Meta, stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.
The justices heard arguments in November in Meta's bid to shut down the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place.
The high court dismissed the company's appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward.
Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users' personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump 's first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.
Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company's shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company was disappointed by the court's action. "The plaintiff's claims are baseless and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is considered by the District Court," Stone said in an emailed statement.
Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users.
Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon. It had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign.
The lawsuit is one of two high court cases involving class-action lawsuits against tech companies. The justices also are wrestling with whether to shut down a class action against Nvidia.... Read More