Friday, May 18, 2012

FEMI SOWOOLU RUBISHES AIRTEL'S 'FAST IS AN ATTITUDE' ADVERT COPY

Much has been said about today's fallen standards of moral uprightness. We record horrendous results in all our national and external examination grades, despite the massive leaks and cheating. The Yahooligans have since cloned their art, creating a more deadly twin. Nigerians are being deported daily from overseas for all kinds of fraudulent activity. Corruption is Nigeria. Get rich now is the new anthem. Sons are disobeying fathers. Even the girls are not smiling!
Before we lose all moral value, the media has an enormous task to play by creating programming, producing jingles, using movies, plays and drama productions to spread the need, essentials and importance of nationhood and responsibility. Creating mini-series, crafting news items and interviews around stories that enhance the essence of nationality, brotherhood and morality. The media - all media-radio, television, print, new media outlets like websites, online news services, gossip rags and blogs, targeted at the Nigerian audience, must be morally obliged to be bound by a sense of responsibility. Either by policy, or by self imposition, or by force!
There's an on-running Airtel radio commercial, perhaps also on universal media, titled "Fast Is An Attitude" that touts the efficacy of the company's internet browsing speed. The copywriter's  'Grand Prix' speed attributes were very superfluous, but one particular line unnerved me. It went: "At 24, you know you are already too late in earning that first million." A rather inane statement  like that cannot help the already dire Nigerian situation. Bharti Airtel,  by employing a commercial advertisement with such a "get rich quick" attribute is simply telling Nigerian youth that diligence, learning, education, mentorship, tradition, hard work,  perseverance, perfection and improvement are irrelevant and unimportant. The folks at Bharti Airtel are also telling Nigerian youth to ignore their parents' admonitions; to continue disobeying constituted authority; to indulge in more scams and nefarious activities, because they have been told that at 24, they would be too old to become millionaires!
The phone networks are in a cut-throat battle with each other. They are in a mad rush to see who gets to space first. That does not mean that because they have this massive brawl over gigabytes and speed, they should lose all moral responsibility, ride slipshod over our sensibilities, and burn us all out at take off! By now some agency whizz kid must think he's penned some superb copy? Tush! He gets no awards for irresponsibility and insensitivity. I should be demanding that this utterly irresponsible commercial is withdrawn off the airwaves immediately. The wise thing really, would be to expunge the offensive portions before it can be returned - if it deserves any return, at all! A reprimand would be in order. Obviously Bharti did not do enough market research to get the right consumer insight. Sometimes we wonder why they all earn those fat salaries!
This is where national policy objectives become relevant. As a nation, are we operating under the right media objectives? Are our nationalistic ideals being met? Can we beat out chests, in the affirmative that we have a policy in place that takes care of both individual requirements and national needs? How involved are the agencies responsible for national orientation and youth development in all this. What about the advertising bodies? AAPN and APCON? Did this particular advert pass right under their noses? Do they include monitoring services among their daily functions?
I wish I could answer all these questions myself. Hopefully somebody high up enough will and take some decisions soon, and withdraw this campaign, totally, from radio and billboard - before all our kids begin to feel that they are failures, at 24!

God's guidance.

D'BANJ DISGRACED AT INDUSTRY NIGHT ...Details here when you click


With the remix version of his hit single, Oliver Twist, heading for number one spot on U.K music chart and the speculations that he has relocated abroad, is running rife, it may interest you to know that D’banj is in Naija! Although the famous ‘Koko Master’ was in Ghana for Soundcity launch, a couple of days ago, D’banj sneaked in to be part of Industry night held on Wednesday May 16. D’banj who garbed in a sleeveless T-shirt with gold chain got everybody scrambling on their feet to take snap shots with their phones. He was on stage while likes of Naeto C, Ikechukwu, Sauce Kid and his younger brother K-Switch, were performing but eventually messed the night up when Naeto C was about performing ‘Tony Montana ,’ his own latest single. The restless Mr Endowed was seen grabbing the microphone and started shouting “Who is better than me” and he held the stage for a while without rendering any of his songs. D’banj eventually got the shock of his life when people replied him by shouting “Don Jazzy”. You can figure out what happened next...

KIM KARDASHIAN DRAGS KANYE WEST OUT OF JA-Z'S PARTY IN LONDON


Kim and Kanye display their love for each other
 The love affair between American Super Stay Kanye West and Kim Kadashian seem to be taling a new dimension, with Kim dictating how things should run.
While there have been counter criticism about the releationship, with many stating that Kim’s only interested in Kanye’s money, and Kanye, the sex, some insiders are maintaining that the two adults are sincerely in love.
Jay-Z held a party for his manager during the week, with Kim and Kanye on the special guest list. However eyewitnesses account states that, Kim Kardashian dragged him from a power dinner at London’s Zuma restaurant, while the party was still on.
A source said: “Jay expected Kay and Kim to mingle.
"But as soon as Kim whispered in Kanye’s ear, they left the party venue unannounced.”
Shortly after their depature, they were spotted together at the Fifi Awards at The Brewery in London.

MARK ZUKABERGE SELLS OFF FACEBOOK SHARES ...Fear Suspected


Toaday, people lucky enough to be Facebook’s real friends – those who own a slice of the company – will become very rich indeed.
About 12 per cent of the stock is being auctioned off to new investors, which will raise around $18billion, valuing the company at $104billion.
Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg, who turned 28 on Monday, owns a 28 per cent stake and is expected to be worth $29.1billion – and there are a couple of surprise beneficiaries too.
Here BBC presenter Emily Maitlis, who interviewed Zuckerberg last year, looks at what the sell-off really means.
Just eight years ago, no one had ever heard of Facebook. Today almost a billion people have signed up to the website.
The guy behind it is Mark Zuckerberg. He thought up the idea in his college dorm with a bunch of his best mates at Harvard and launched it in February 2004.
These days it doesn’t feel much like a student project — it is one of the hottest businesses in the world.
And today Zuckerberg is taking all his hard work and turning it into hard cash by selling Facebook shares on the US stock market for the first time.
The move could make Zuckerberg one of the top ten wealthiest Americans — since he owns more than a quarter of all the shares. This first sale will make the company worth about $104billion dollars. Imagine heading off for the weekend with an extra $29billion in your back pocket. It’s easy to get carried away with the hype.
But those in the business are starting to ask how a company that charges users absolutely nothing to sign up could be worth even a fraction of the huge numbers being thrown around.
Despite this, the shares are in short supply and lots of people are keen to get their hands on them, even if they don’t normally invest. In Silicon Valley they call this “dumb money”.
They mean that people like the sound of owning the shares — a kind of trophy — even if they know nothing about the industry.
So, big question: How do you avoid being a “dumb investor”.
The real secret is to look more closely at the company’s product.
Facebook is called a social network but what does that really mean?
Well, it starts by suggesting people you may know from what you have told it about yourself. You’re invited to connect to those people as Facebook friends.
The average user has 140 but we all know people who have thousands of virtual friends — imagine all those birthday reminders... The only content on Facebook is what their users put there — so it stands or falls on our willingness to keep posting new material for others to see.
When I met Zuckerberg last year, he told me his mission was to make the world more open and connected.
He said: “Everyone is going to have a much better experience when they’re doing things with their friends... your world just becomes a lot richer.”
Zuckerberg knows Facebook cannot afford to stand still. He admits the site only develops if people want to share more stuff and stay on the site for longer.
And somehow or other the Facebook founder has to get us to spend money as well.
One of the ways people do spend money on it is through the gaming sites. A little known fact is that nearly half of all the games people play online are done through Facebook. It is a business worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Then there’s advertising. As far as that goes, Facebook has a real trump card. When you place an ad on Facebook — which any of us can do on a normal laptop — you can target just the sort of people who you think will want your product.
Perhaps the biggest question for Facebook is how far it will use people’s personal information without their users feeling, well, “used”.
Its long-term value may depend on whether we feel comfortable with the site and feel our privacy is being protected.
Investors also want to know they can rely on the company not to change too much — but if Mark Zuckerberg remains as loyal to his site as he is to his five-year-old unflashy car — they won’t have much cause for concern.
In the film about Facebook, The Social Network, Zuckerberg’s friend Sean Parker encourages him to think big. He tells him: “A million dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A billion dollars.”
Today Zuckerberg might well be on the phone to Parker asking him: “So how cool is $100billion?”