Actress and influencer Dineo Langa issued a joint apology with a whisky brand after a campaign invoking the 1956 Women’s March sparked social media backlash and government condemnation for trivialising the sacrifices of the women behind the historic protest.
Image: Instagram/Dineo Langa
Whisky brand apologises after ANC and government accuse it of commercialising the legacy of the women who led the historic 1956 protest
An international whisky brand’s Women’s Month campaign featuring actress Dineo Langa has been withdrawn after it sparked a furious backlash over its use of the legacy of the 1956 Women’s March to promote alcohol.
The Glenlivet came under fire from the African National Congress (ANC), Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and People with Disabilities Sindisiwe Chikunga and social media users, who accused the brand of trivialising the sacrifices of the women who organised the historic march against apartheid pass laws.
The ANC said it was “deeply disturbing” to see the legacies of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Lilian Ngoyi, Sophie de Bruyn and the 1956 Women’s March used to sell alcohol.
“Their legacies and sacrifices are not marketing props. The advert must be withdrawn and an apology issued,” ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu said on Friday.
The party said using the history of the Women’s March to market alcohol was particularly insensitive given the role alcohol played in the exploitation and control of black communities under colonialism and apartheid.
It pointed to practices such as the dop system, under which some farm and other workers were partly paid with alcohol rather than receiving their full remuneration.
The ANC also condemned what it described as an attempt to turn the Women’s March into a marketing spectacle.
In the late 1950s, women in townships across South Africa were among the most vocal opponents of apartheid-era liquor laws and the municipal beer-hall system.
Women organised boycotts and, in some communities, raided and destroyed beer halls as they protested against laws they believed contributed to the economic exploitation of their households and communities.
They also opposed the forced removals and pass laws imposed by the apartheid state and demanded that men play a greater role in the struggle against apartheid.
Chikunga also criticised the campaign, warning against the glamourisation and normalisation of alcohol consumption.
She said harmful drinking could not be separated from the broader social challenges confronting South African communities.
“Alcohol abuse and harmful drinking are among factors that can exacerbate gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), family instability, child neglect, interpersonal violence and other forms of social harm,” she said.
“We cannot celebrate the courage of the women of 1956 while simultaneously commercialising and trivialising their struggle.”
On Friday, The Glenlivet subsequently withdrew the campaign and issued an apology jointly with Langa. Langa had earlier deleted negative comments from the campaigns video on Instagram earlier in the week.
“The Glenlivet unreservedly apologises for a recent influencer post which drew on the legacy of the 1956 Women’s March,” the statement said.
“We acknowledge the offence this has caused and have deleted the post. We are investigating how the post was conceptualised and approved to make sure this does not happen again.”
The brand said it wished to reiterate its “heartfelt apology” to those affected by the post.
But sociologist and political analyst Tessa Dooms rejected the apology, questioning the brand’s suggestion that the campaign’s conceptualisation and approval needed to be investigated.
“These guys think we are kids. This wasn’t a video shot on her couch. There was a budget, story boards, a script, production, editing and PR strategy on when to post. Now they want to ‘investigate’ what?” Dooms asked.
The backlash reflects the continuing sensitivity surrounding the legacy of the 1956 Women’s March, which remains one of the defining moments in South Africa’s struggle against apartheid.
On August 9, 1956, about 20 000 women marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest against the extension of apartheid pass laws to black women.
