Opinion
Behind My Pipe Smoke
By Fanzo Skhova
Marketing is meant to say to and show a potential consumer of a service or goods the right things. That is of course the primary objective.
Often, marketing is expressed a lot meaningfully through advertising and in the case of wealthier enterprises, television advertising is a preferred option because the product or service is visualised. The voice, the right things said and motion graphics breath reality into a product or service thereby inflating a potential consumer’s appetite to acquire some.
Accordingly, many advertisements have irked my cool because of possible unintended consequences that I have quietly observed over time. Let us take Brut 33 fragrance for example, its primary objective is to recruit men to use it because Brut is “the essence of man”. In the video, the advertiser validates this idea of “the essence of man” by using a poor but drop-dead-gorgeous model’s voice to unpack the elements of that man. You must be wondering how I know that a woman I only know from a television screen is poor. I do. I do because I can see she is too poor to afford a whole set of clothes but underwear. Take it from me, the advert was well created. But there is a problem. The advert promotes the crooked idea that with Brut, your chances of getting a girlfriend are enhanced. It is by conduct a suggestion that Brut could make one a “ladies man” or even help yourself to a sexy model in underwear. The worse sin the advertiser could have avoided is insulting those of us who are not wearing Brut. How dare you call us men devoid of essence? So, you are saying because we do not use Brut, we do not command essence?
I had resolved to begin a crusade to forgive advertisers like the Brut marketers before I was rudely discouraged from doing so by the Clientele advertisements. First it was the Clientele Life’s burial insurance cover. Let me go straight for the nerve. The advert is a constant reminder that African people do not necessarily always possess sufficient disposable cash to finance sudden occurrences like death in a family. In as much as the advert carries a couple of testimonies by beneficiaries across the South African racial spectrum, the visuals depict black mourners. The advert delivers a full pound of offence when it goes on to undertake to supply “R200 airtime to arrange the funeral”. It is an ugly reminder of the poverty in which Africans splash in everyday of their lives like dolphins in made-man swimming pools.
The one that wears the throne of disrespect and indictment to South Africans is Clientele Legal. In this advert, there is a range of implicit uncomfortable suggestions. First and the most notable for me is the segment wherein a black guy was represented by Clientele’s attorneys in a case of “unfair dismissal” by his white boss. This confirms the silly reality that whites remain in control of economic opportunities and the labour market dynamics. As if that was not enough, there is a firm promise to free you should you be arrested for drunken driving. Essentially, the segment implies that drunken driving is a societal weakness out of which they found a lucrative opportunity. It is labelling us a nation of irresponsible booze downers who’s first thought after the last drink is a front seat position behind a steering wheel. For that habit, they are prepared to bail you out for as much as R3000. Why not? Don’t they imply that they know you spend so much on drunkenness you cannot readily keep that amount elsewhere in your current or savings account?
Uncontested divorce, that is but one of the suite of services Clientele Legal can offer. Again they are bee-poking because in this instance, a white fellow brags how his divorce from his ex-wife was greased to slide smoothly by the competent legal wizards in the employ of Clientele. I will not conclude that this is a racial question. The advertiser also agrees the testifying character is not a choice motivated by any realities associable with racial inequalities. We both agree though, that we do not know if this may lead to a conclusion that one race have more assets to contest for during divorce than the other.
That is why I maintain that on aggregate, television advertisements in South Africa tend to mock and indict Africans. These tend to box the black race segment of consumers into and around things such cash loans, riding public transport, alcohol, condom use and young blacks who want to go for a spin in a new car that is not insured. Their share of the market whereas, is often modelling adverts of shampoos, high-end alcohol beverages, beach holidays, business success, insurance gain, SUVs and health products.
Let me get behind the aroma of my pipe smoke!
The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of Moretele Times.