Earlier this year, there was a bit of a brouhaha in the SA papers – and blogs – over Vodacom's "Player 23" rugby supporters ad. Certain commentators – including the Sunday Times' Simnikiwe Xabanisa and blogger Mark Keohane on keo.co.za – thought that "Jan" was a bad choice for "Player 23", the ultimate rugby fan. They reckoned he was the epitome of the "brandy-swilling, racist Afrikaner" who gives rugby fans a bad name – some critics even thought he was "probably a wife-beater".

Now, FHM watched that ad many times – because it's damn funny. If you still haven't seen it, here it is:

Are we blind, or something? We don't see him swilling brandy, we don't see him being a racist, and we certainly don't see him beating his wife. Yes, he's a bit over-the-top and gung-ho when supporting his team and threatening their opponents – but what true fan isn't?

No, the only way in which Jan resembles the "brandy-swilling, wife-beating, racist stereotype", is that he's a bit of a fat bastard. We have a few fat bastards working here at FHM, and they're mostly really nice guys. But to those who think like Keo and Xabanisa, being portly-stout must also mean you're a drunk, woman-abusing racist – now who's doing the stereotyping, guys?

Then along came "Elton & Jan" – Vodacom's follow-up ad. It looks like this:

So Jan now has a fellow-fan, who's slim, possibly a teetotaller, and definitely "coloured". FHM has no problem with that, either. But did you notice the two of them bumping into each other at the supermarket? And they check each other's baskets – and Elton's wors is just bigger than any wors has any right to be?

Now, let it be said; as any expert braai-master knows, it's not the size of your wors that counts, it's what you do with it. But there's another interpretation available here – it's just possible that Vodacom might be making a jokey hint that "coloured" okes just naturally have larger "wors" than their Afrikaner counterparts. In other words, they're reminding us of a very old stereotype.

Has anyone complained about the rampant stereotyping this time? Xabanisa, Keo, anyone? We didn't think so...