Men's Health Magazine Apologizes | Not To Fans Though

Men's Health SA got caught up in some picture swap mess (If you missed it read here) with their latest issue on stands now. Upon picking up the story I got in contact with the magazine's creative director to get some answers and an apology. 

I am happy to announce that Men's Health has apologised to Anda Bongoza for the error with the pictures in the magazine. It actually turns out that the magazine's creative director Rob Cilliers sent Anda an email on the 19th just before the issue hit the shelves.

Unfortunately the email never reached Anda because of some error in the email address. The initial message read; 

Hi Anda 

Not sure if you have seen the December issue of Men's Health with our Cover Guy 2014 finalists? 

Firstly congratulations on your Top20 placement. Very well deserved. 

However we have an admission: We ran the correct images in the magazine, but unfortunately in error one image with the your name and information. Our apologies for the error. 

Attached is a "Top 20" cover for you to use in your portfolio, as well social media platforms. 

Also keep a lookout for your profile on our website:

http://www.mh.co.za/fitness/meet-the-top-20-cover-guys/ 

And on Facebook (we'll be running something tomorrow):

https://www.facebook.com/MensHealthSA

Strangely though, no apology was mentioned on any of Men's Health's social media platform. Which then means anyone who saw the magazine would not have known at all that the picture of Anda he/she is seeing is the wrong one. 

As I stated in my other article about this, this poses a serious concern for me. Firstly the model whose picture was used on Anda's profile is affected by this. Secondly, the people who voted for Anda and may have bought the magazine just to support him deserved an apology.

A private apology to Anda, even is it came before the magazine came out, does very little to show any respect and/or acknowledgement on Men's Health's part. They screwed up and t he public and their readers deserved an apology — not just Anda.  

On November 26th, Rob Cilliers eventually got Anda's correct email and forwarded him the November 19th apology email. Anda's reponse was; 

"Hey

Thank you for the wonderfull experience, see you guys next year :) "

I asked Rob if there will be any public apology to the magazine readers and Anda's supporters and he replied;  

It was an awesome experience to shoot with Anda, and because he had such a cool response to the error, we felt no need to take the matter further.

I still think a public apology is warranted here but clearly Men's Health South Africa is not prepared to do that. With that, I move on. 

Thanks to Men's Health's creative director Robert Cilliers and MH Top 20 Cover Guy finalist Anda Bongoza for engaging me on this issue.