A front-page advertisement in The Star, featuring a legless man below a picture of murder-accused paralympian Oscar Pistorius, sparked outrage on the social networking site Twitter on Tuesday.

The Outsurance advertisement for disability cover was placed on the lower, right-hand side of the page, immediately below a photograph and story about the bail hearing of double amputee Pistorius.

He is accused of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at his home in Pretoria in the early hours on Thursday.

Vaughan Warburton tweeted: “ Ah come now OUTsurance..... Really?”  Mhlangabezi Songwevu tweeted: “Disgusting. Shame on You.

Outsurance this is tasteless”  The insurer replied, in a tweet, that the “ad placement in The Star this AM was completely unintentional and we apologise if any offence was caused #OscarPistorius”  However, some people did not believe them.

Bernard Bergstedt tweeted: “Sorry I don’t buy it's crappy apology. why place this specific ad on the very day Oscar appears in court. Premeditated.”

Star editor Makhudu Sefara could not immediately be reached for comment.

The advertisement features a man wearing jeans and running shoes. His left leg has been replaced with the text: “Do you have the right insurance cover should your life suddenly change?” 

OUTsurance ‏reply on Twitter:

"The outsurance ad placement in The Star this AM was completely unintentional and we apologise if any offence was causedOscarPistorius"

http://www.outsurance.co.za/about-outsurance/insurance-news/outsurance-press-release-star-advertisement/