World Cup organizers on Monday denounced a company advertising anti-stab vests for fans at next June’s soccer tournament in South Africa, accusing them of trying to make money from scare tactics.
The British company’s Web site advertises anti-stab vests for £69.95 (US$115) and says they can be decorated with customized slogans or team colors. As part of its pitch, it quotes crime statistics on South Africa, which has one of the world’s highest rates of violent offenses.
Local World Cup organizing committee spokesman Rich Mkhondo condemned the vests as an “abominable money-making ploy using fear tactics.”
Mkhondo said in a statement: “Sport fans visiting South Africa have never needed stab vests. They will not and will never need them during the World Cup ... The marketing of stab vests is a joke.”
The phone number on the Web site does not work and comment was not immediately available from the company, which is registered with an address in Merton, southwest London.
South African and World Cup officials are sensitive about suggestions that violent crime will mar the soccer spectacular, the world’s most watched sports event, which is expected to attract 450,000 foreign fans.
The Web site says: “Our PROTEKTORVEST offers effective protection from potential attacks from blades, knives, bottles and broken glass and turns your stab vest into a special and exclusive fan article.”
It offers to deliver the vests, free of charge, directly to a fan’s hotel in Johannesburg or Pretoria next June.
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