- Naked Insurance’s billboard ad featuring the phrase “Pierre got Naked at Liefde by die Dam” led to a humorous misunderstanding among Durbanville parents, who thought it referred to the local school principal.
- After realising the confusion, Naked Insurance quickly removed the ad and arranged for rock star Pierre Greeff to gift complimentary festival tickets to the school.
- The tickets will be auctioned to raise funds for the school, with Naked matching the proceeds.
A billboard advertisement in Durbanville caused quite a stir when residents confused the local primary school’s principal with a ‘naked’ rockstar.
The digital insurance platform, Naked, is sponsoring the music festival Liefde by die Dam, which takes place next weekend at Meerendal in Durbanville.
Last week, they used the name of the festival organiser and lead singer of the band Die Heuwels Fantasties, Pierre Greeff, in a billboard ad in the area: “Pierre got Naked at Liefde by die Dam.”
However, what they didn’t realise was that the principal of the local primary school, where the ad was placed, is also named Pierre.
The community didn’t take it well, with quite a few parents assuming the billboard was referring to the principal.
Naked and the school quickly cleared up the misunderstanding, and the billboard was removed.
Pierre du Toit, the principal of Durbanville Primary School, said, “We’re grateful that Naked acted proactively because they understand that we can’t afford to have children seeing confusing advertisements. As an additional gesture, Naked also arranged for rock star Pierre to personally hand over complimentary tickets for the music festival. We’re auctioning off the tickets, and Naked will match the amount we raise with a cash donation to our school.”
Ernest North, co-founder of Naked, said he’s thankful that both Pierres were good sports.
“Sometimes, you can only laugh at the coincidence of such a misunderstanding. South Africans are getting Naked everywhere. In fact, our data shows that 65 different people named ‘Pierre’ have used the Naked service so far this month. But as a huge fan of Die Heuwels Fantasties, I forgot to consider that this may not be appropriate. We apologise to the Durbanville community for the incident.”
