Winners of Spur’s Disney holiday competition are all white

Posted on September 21st, 2007 by Richard Catto 6,360 views

The Winners of Spur’s competition that I previously wrote about here have been published. They are:

Mrs Ethel Lues
Mrs Marieta Hanekom
Mrs Hannelie Engelbrecht
Mrs Hester Lourens

Does anything about this list of winners strike you as odd?

I mean, they’re all woman, presumably married, for starters. Three of the four have unambiguously Afrikaans names, but it’s possible that all four women are white Afrikaners.

Were the prizes randomly drawn or did Spur decide to allocate them to patrons as they saw fit?

I’m not sure how it’s possible to randomly draw four white people to win all your prizes. I mean, I presume that people of colour entered Spur’s competition.

It’s a troubling result. I wonder if Spur is prepared to tell us how they arrived at their list of winners?

Filed under all white winners, Holiday Adventure, Spur Steak Ranches | 29 Comments »

Spur advert misleads South Africans

Posted on June 6th, 2007 by Richard Catto 10,523 views

Spur Steak Ranches is advertising a “Disney Holiday Adventure” competition. To enter you must order a R40 meal at any of their restaurant franchises. You must consume the meal in the restaurant, no takeaways.

The prize, of which few details are available even on Spur’s web site, is a family holiday to Disneyland in Florida, United States.

I’m curious as to how Spur is going to solve the problem of getting a South African family into the United States.

Any overseas trip is an expensive undertaking. What exactly does Spur’s prize cover? Accommodation? Spending money? Airport transfers? Meals? How many people? Is a family represented by 2 adults and up to 2 children?

Secondly, obtaining a visa to enter the United States is extremely difficult. South Africa does not enjoy visa waiver status with the US. Even though we allow US citizens into our country without a visa, they do not reciprocate.

Obtaining a US tourist visa costs over R1000. Just calling to make an appointment for an interview with a US Consular official costs R95. The visa is $100, and there are other expenses (e.g. couriering the visa back to the applicant, photographs etc.). Will Spur be covering these costs?

In addition to the cost, the US grants tourist visas only to South Africans who can satisfy them that they intend returning to this country and they must possess enough spending money to cover the duration of their trip. Having good employment and owning fixed assets are almost basic requirements. Having family in SA is another. People of limited means are unlikely to be granted a US tourist visa.

The US also does not admit anyone who is HIV positive, so a medical exam is also required – another cost.

South Africans with a criminal record will not get a visa either.

The US Consular officers are not obliged to issue a visa, even if someone meets all the requirements. If the person does not look “right” to them, they can decline without giving reasons. Furthermore, a person with a US tourist visa may still be refused entry by custom officials at the point of entry at their discretion.

It’s easy to see that many, if not most, people entering Spur’s competition will not be able to obtain US tourist visas. They may be disqualified for any number of reasons, but most of them will fail to qualify simply because they’re too poor.

It also seems likely to me that many people who are enticed to enter Spur’s competition by ordering the R40 meal may be blissfully unaware of all these problems surrounding obtaining US tourist visas for their family.

Neither Spur’s advert nor their web site offers much information on this competition.

What alternative prize is Spur offering, if any?

By offering this prize, isn’t Spur discriminating against HIV positive persons and persons of limited means among others?

Isn’t Spur’s advert misleading because they are unable to guarantee delivery (of the advertised prize) to many who enter?

The US routinely refuses entry to South Africans, even those with visas:
Top SA judge had US visa problems
Winnie Mandela was recently denied entry to Canada
SA academic’s Professor Adam Habib denied entry
Tokyo Sexwale and Sidney Mufamadi (African National Congress Activists) were denied entry in 2003
Rasool body-searched ‘because he is Muslim’

Filed under denied entry into US, Holiday Adventure, misleading, Spur Steak Ranches | 29 Comments »