South Africa mobile content woes

Link: Mercury: Downloading debt

‘Get all the ring tones you want. Come and play. Join the club. Win R15 000 cash.”

These are just some of the catchy jingles rattled off in fast-paced television adverts that woo unwitting consumers into sending off text messages to buy trendy ringtones, songs, games and wallpapers – debatably superfluous sales known as “data content”.

The only problem with some of these adverts is that unless you watch very closely and are looking for the catch – the small print – there’s a fair chance you’ll text the short number without realising you’re taking the first step towards subscribing to a weekly “service”.