I was stopped in my tracks tonight by this ad:
Which is intentionally playing on fears of identity theft, unsecured data transmission and Nigeria’s unfortunate reputation as being full of internet con men. This on the heels of highly touted District 9′s portrayal of Nigerians as backward, criminals, whores and cannibals. The roots of which are discussed in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie great op-ed for the Guardian “Why Do South African’s Hate Nigerians”. These recent examples are part of a long trail of really negative portrayals of Nigerians in film and television. The recent X-men Movie Wolverine has an extended segment set in Lagos Nigeria… where yet again Nigerian criminals are at the forefront… this time Diamond traffickers. In October of 2008, even Saturday Night Live got a jab in when Anne Hathaway, fresh from discovering that her boyfriend was a con artist/criminal opened with a joke about her new boyfriend the Nigerian Prince… sigh. Hilarious.
We have all heard the jokes, seen the emails, heck, we’ve all been in conversations where in the conversation turns to internet crimes or con men, Nigeria is sure to come up. Clearly brand Nigeria is suffering. The question is… who will defend it?
After Sony released a commercial that played on the Nigerian criminal stereotype in order to sell a few more games, the Minister of Information forced Sony to apologize and edit the ad.
More actions like these certainly help control the damage, but do nothing to turn the tide. If the Nigerian Minister of Information is responsible for brand Nigeria what is being done to change the story? The Ministry launched a new website in May that is intended to help improve Nigeria’s brand… when I went to visit it, I got a malware warning… yeah, no matter how good the content on the site, not many folks are going to visit it with that window popping up. Not only that, but the Daily Trust article that reported on it also mentions how Nigeria’s own Government site was inoperable due to a conflict with its ISP. Way to build that brand guys.
So who can take the bull by the horns and turn this brand around? Ah, well that is the trick isn’t it? Nigeria has a booming music and movie industry why not use it to tell the west stories of Nigeria that are not out in the public view? If District 9 proved anything it proved and a well made African film can succeed in the West. So how about it? Who is writing the next book, song, movie, tv show that turns these stereotypes on their head and telling the whole story. Not just he seamy bad side (which every nation shares lets not forget) but also the stories of triumph over adversity, hope, friendship, family, love and loss, joy, humor and all the rest? Where are those stories? Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, has been accused of writing stories for the West instead of for African’s and maybe her critics are correct… but its only more people like her that will be able to turn the tide and present the World with the true face of Nigeria. So what do you say? Are you ready to defend brand Nigeria?
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It's easy to see the angle that the Identity Guard ad took, or should I say, the argument they would make that they are trying to change the idea that Nigerians are fraudsters, while cashing in on the fraud stereotype to sell their product. Gee thanks.
No-one is denying Nigeria has created its own reputation, but still I can't help thinking that no matter what we do, the 419 badge is to us, what the hand of god was to Maradonna; a beast that once created, cannot be caged. The brand is bigger than us now, and district 9, the sony ad and the increasing comedy fodder nature of it, is evidence that it no longer belongs to us either.
We can't stop the ridicule, so we should give up and go back to cleaning our own back yard. Only then will be really have a defence to make.
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