"We can confirm that we have paused all traditional and digital advertising until further notice," a Unilever spokesperson told Fin24 on Tuesday evening. Unilever owns brands like Surf, Joko, Lipton, Vaseline, Omo, Handy Andy, Knorr, Robertson’s Spices and Ola ice cream. It opened its first South African factory in 1911, and currently operates six production facilities in Durban and Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal, as well as Boksburg and Midrand in Gauteng.

While Unilever did not confirm the reason for the suspension of its advertising, hundreds of stores that sell Unilever products have been looted in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal after riots erupted over the weekend. It's not clear whether its own factories have also been targeted. In September last year, Unilever was forced to issue an apology after its TRESemmé brand was involved in a marketing campaign on the Clicks website that promoted racist stereotypes about hair. Clicks stores were forced to close in the wake of the furore. This week, Clicks closed all its stores in KwaZulu-Natal after shops were looted.