In America and elsewhere where allowed companies can run adverts and in the adverts openly mock, ridicule or downgrade their competition by naming and shaming. In South Africa this is not the case, as far as I am aware!

Now to my shock and horror this has slipped through on Facebook Advertising and I know that Facebook won’t have any problem with it as it doesn’t go against any of their T&C’s etc but I’m sure its now allowed in South Africa.

So I clicked through to GymForLess.co.za (not via the Facebook advert as didn’t Zuckerberg to earn some more bucks) to check it out. And basically its not really another gym competing against VirginActive but rather a Financial Services company by the name of True2Life.

Now they are just trying to earn commission on contracts they send through to Discovery Health Insurance as once you sign up there and then get there extra Vitality package you get free or actually gym at R80. The contract says R400pm for gym but in all if you get the Discovery Health Insurance and Vitality package you’ll be paying at least R800 a month, so you double your monthly payment but get health insurance.

I’m not sure what deal Discovery has with Virgin Active which allows for the discounted membership fees but I’m sure that there are so many members who joined Discovery just so they could get the ‘free’ gym but then never actually really use it. I’m one of them, need to use it more!

So is this advert misleading? In away its not but it is done via another Finacial Services company and not direct.