SOWETO, South Africa
, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- A cell phone company's ad on the side of a South African hospital building carried the unfortunate message: "You've come to play. We've come to bury."
To make matters worse
, the building at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto where the Vodacom ad was placed houses two AIDS clinics, the Pretoria News reported.
"We have clients coming in and asking us
, 'What's this about burying us?'" said Steve Whiting
, a staffer at the Perinatal HIV Research Unit.
Hester van den Heever
, a spokeswoman for the hospital
, said that officials there rent building walls for ads and generally do not worry about the content
, as long as there are no commercial messages for cigarettes or alcohol. She said that Vodacom has been asked to change its message.
Shameel Joosub
, managing director at Vodacom SA
, said the hospital billboard was intended to be placed at a stadium to tout the company's soccer sponsorship. The hospital sign was meant to show Vodacom's support for people with AIDS.Related Topics Articles: