Mrs Ball's and the skirt campaign

Some things are fine the way they are.

That was the message from Mrs Ball's chutney, it was revealed, after a mysterious National Skirt Extension Project (NSEP) had throngs of South Africans up in arms.

Lengthen skirts on bathroom signs or else!

The NSEP had instructed, through a strategically placed advertisement including a website and hotline, the lengthening of the skirt on all “Ladies” signs on bathrooms countrywide. The ad said compliance would be mandatory and enforced nation-wide.

The issue went viral, much to the delight of DDB, the agency behind the campaign, who wanted to show South Africans that while other brands may reinvent themselves from time to time, there is no need for Mrs Ball’s chutney to change.

Not going to change

Restaurant managers threatened to defy the proposal, and women cried foul with claims of sexism.

Then a petition emerged and started doing the rounds in the form of an email, claiming to be against the NSEP. Even talk radio host John Robbie was taken in, and interviewed the campaign's "chairperson" Chris Rea on his Saturday show.

Rumours spread that it may be part of a political party's campaign, while some people thought a deodorant brand was behind it.

The Saturday Star reported that the NSEP website got 360 000 hits, inspired 6 000 phone calls, 300 blogs in 23 countries and 10 000 emails from people with an opinion on the issue and in search of what and who was behind it all.

Advertising agency DDB finally came clean, though, admitting it was behind the campaign, which included the e-mail petition. Tsitsi Dhlamini, DDB business director, told the Saturday Star, "There is no need to change just for the sake of changing. Mrs Ball's has been uncompromised since 1856 and won't change. Brands keep reinventing themselves. So we decided to turn it on its head to say Mrs Ball's won't change."

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