In Case You Missed It: "UANI Anti-MTN Adverts Get Local Gag in South Africa"

   

In Case You Missed It: "UANI Anti-MTN Adverts Get Local Gag in South Africa" South African Newspaper Reveals that MTN Pressured Local Advertisers into Not Running UANI's Billboard "MTN's Presence in South Africa and its Advertising Prowess have Caused a Chilling Effect on what Can be Published About It"   Anti-MTN adverts get local gag By Rowan Philp Mail & Guardian September 7, 2012 A major US lobby group's shock advertising campaign, alleging that MTN is "profiting from torture" in Iran, has been blocked by local agencies. But it claims that South African advertising companies have refused to erect the billboards because of the influence of the telecoms giant. United Against Nuclear Iran, an organisation founded by the late United States ambassador Richard Holbrooke, claimed this month that MTN, which has a 49% stake in Iran's second-biggest cellphone network, has provided the regime with the means to suppress and track dissenters, some of whom are later tortured. A lawsuit filed in the US by Turkcell, MTN's rival, echoes these claims and alleges further that the company has supported Iran's illegal nuclear programme. MTN not only denies all claims of corruption and enabling oppression, but also claims that its cell service to 38-million subscribers in Iran - "many under 21 [years old]" - actually "widens political freedoms". This week, Nathan Carleton, spokesperson for the lobby group, told the Mail & Guardian that, since early May, artwork and an initial undisclosed budget was offered for the erection of billboards opposite MTN's headquarters in Gauteng. The advert shows a picture of Iranian plain-clothes officers beating a civilian with clubs, alongside the words: "MTN helps the Iranian regime terrorize and oppress its citizens." But, at least half a dozen South African advertising companies have refused to print and erect the advert, including Adreach, which called the campaign "distasteful", Media24, which cited a conflict of interest in its business with MTN, and Outdoor Media, which said it even feared for its staff's safety, owing to "potential retaliation from other parties". Only Alliance Media is still considering running the campaign. Carleton said its US campaign had already turned some potential US business partners against MTN. But, he said: "We wanted to bring the campaign 'home' to South Africa ... where the vast majority of MTN's employees and customers would be appalled to know the full extent of MTN's alliance with the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism. Rebuffed "We made it clear to our representatives that we were ready to pay the regular or even the premium rate for this billboard, but we were rebuffed each time. We tried for months, but clearly MTN's presence in South Africa and its advertising prowess have caused a chilling effect on what can be published about it." In 2010, United Against Nuclear Iran succeeded in forcing equipment conglomerate Caterpillar to withdraw its subsidiary involvement in Iran following a similar and highly successful billboard "shame campaign" in the US. The lobby group claimed a subsidiary's equipment was being used to bore tunnels for Iran's nuclear facilities. One giant billboard that faced its headquarters in Illinois in the US stated, next to a picture of a Caterpillar crane: "Today's work. Tomorrow's nuclear Iran?" A US advertising agent, who asked not to be named, said hundreds of thousands of rands had been made available for the launch of the anti-MTN campaign in South Africa. The lobby group recently stepped up its war against MTN with a string of new condemnations, including outraged editorials on the fact that MTN sought assistance from the US government to extract its profits from Iran. Last Friday, Mark Wallace, a former US ambassador to the United Nations and now the lobby group's chief executive, called MTN "a direct threat to US national security interests" and called on the White House to impose sanctions on the company. "It is unacceptable that MTN, a complicit partner of the Iranian regime, is still able to raise capital in the US and has not had its assets and property blocked by the US government," said Wallace. ... Click here to read the full article. Click here to read UANI's February 29 letter to MTN. Click here to read UANI's January 25 letter to MTN. Click here to send a message to MTN. ###                                                                         United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran should concern every American and be unacceptable to the community of nations. Since 1979 the Iranian regime, most recently under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's leadership, has demonstrated increasingly threatening behavior and rhetoric toward the US and the West. Iran continues to defy the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations in their attempts to monitor its nuclear activities. A number of Arab states have warned that Iran's development of nuclear weapons poses a threat to Middle East stability and could provoke a regional nuclear arms race. In short, the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran is a danger to world peace. United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons. The Objectives of United Against a Nuclear Iran Inform the public about the nature of the Iranian regime, including its desire and intent to possess nuclear weapons, as well as Iran's role as a state sponsor of global terrorism, and a major violator of human rights at home and abroad; Heighten awareness nationally and internationally about the danger that a nuclear armed Iran poses to the region and the world; Mobilize public support, utilize media outreach, and persuade our elected leaders to voice a robust and united American opposition to a nuclear Iran; Lay the groundwork for effective US policies in coordination with European and other allies; Persuade the regime in Tehran to desist from its quest for nuclear weapons, while striving not to punish the Iranian people, and; Promote efforts that focus on vigorous national and international, social, economic, political and diplomatic measures. UANI is led by an advisory board of outstanding national figures representing all sectors of our country.

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