Vodafone Adverts: Tasteless and Repulsive

Two of Vodafone’s current advertisements are extremely nauseous due to the manner in which they disrespect elderly people and stereotype a certain Ghanaian group. Clearly, both Vodafone and its advertising agency are clueless about certain fundamental Ghanaian values as well as the potential negative implications a commercial could have. Advertisements are such powerful communication tools in the corporate world that any agency that undermines them risks its goodwill.

The first of the offensive commercials in question is the one in which an elderly man dozes during a professional meeting of a sort and a lopsided young man takes his picture and circulates among colleagues. The maniacal laughter the picture generates among old and young staff alike is a forceful reminder of the moral decadence of the contemporary Ghanaian. The irreverent attitude of the young people in the advert makes a cultured Ghanaian wince with pain and genuine sadness: Pain at the ignorance of the producers, their lack of decorum, their inability to determine the cultural difference, sadness at their poor taste. The advert would be perfect if the person who dozed was a youngster. A young subject would have created an impression of camaraderie among friends. That would have made the commercial refreshing, genuinely hilarious. Too bad both creative team and Vodafone were not savvy enough. Shameful indeed!

Considering that Vodafone has among its subscribers a burgeoning number of elderly ones, its demonstration of socio-cultural impropriety is downright disgraceful. The noxious part occurs where the elderly man is boxed left and right. The act is tantamount to those young rascals physically hitting the elderly man. In the traditional Ghanaian context, it is a taboo for a child to hit the parent. The Akans say “Panin ano ye bosom”, which literally translates, the mouth of an elderly person is a god. Within the Akan context, anyone who understands the swiftness of the gods’ punishment appreciates that proverb. When the elderly person being ridiculed sees the image and shockingly whispers, hεԑԑ, the insightful is terrified for the empty-headed laughing jackals. Any decent child/youngster who cherishes life never raises the hand against the parent. That is why the good old Book exhorts: “If you honour your father and mother, yours will be a long life, full of blessing (Ephesians 6: 3).

In the second commercial, a pest of a mother-in-law subjects her daughter-in-law to a ludicrous lecture about the needs of the former’s son. That commercial is not savvy because it is derogatory to the elderly woman as well as her tribe. It is not funny because Mrs Abrͻfosԑm epitomizes absurdity as she oozes naivety through pretentions. It is not appealing because it endorses oppression.

For a commercial from a communication entity, that advert scores so negatively for the wrong message it relays. The mother subjects the young woman to that a heartless tête-á-tête the entire day. A conscientious person wonders how much that distraction could cause the young woman to commit professional errors during the day. The torture continues at home, because the wife cannot assert herself and stop the mother-in-law. She endures under duress. Meanwhile, the weasel of a son remains in the background, cannot muster the courage to stop his bully of a mother, even when she invades their night, all because of a measly 2-day package from Vodafone! Some older folks do not sleep well at night; the mother likely belongs to that category. So if she cannot sleep, her daughter-in-law cannot sleep either, she seems to imply. That commercial highlights several negatives of the Ghanaian culture: The norm that stifles the young from voicing the fact when the elderly goes astray, the tradition that forcefully deprives the young of assertiveness, the almost dehumanizing tendency of the average Ghanaian to gulp down every injustice under the absurdity of leaving it to God to right the wrong, when God has given humans the ability to right wrongs, rectify situations in order to dignify self and others!

I am aware that nobody reads in Ghana—my apologies to Mr. Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng, the columnist—but should the Vodafone team and its advertising folks read this piece, they would know how counter-productive the 2 adverts are. The service provider has had adverts in the past that have featured the elderly in an amusing but dignified manner. Too bad it is degenerating.

Advertisements are such powerful communication tools that enhance or maim the reputation of a business. In the competitive global environment, negative advertisement is a corporate suicide. The average Ghanaian may lack the intellectual sophistication to analyse contents, but there is always the cultured minority that deconstructs such public information for quality. Generally, Ghanaian adverts tend to nauseate, and one always hopes that advertising companies will demonstrate decorum when they reach out to consumers. For that to happen, they really must study and grasp thoroughly the concept of advertising. That is a utopia for this generation which shuns knowledge for material things. Just because a person can put images together, it does not mean that s/he can package information effectively. Advertisers and corporate bodies do well to remember that huge difference. There is no conflict between animation and socio-cultural values; they are complementary.

Vodafone especially must be careful of the message it puts in the public domain, because it represents national interests. It ought to balance marketing interests with national values. Its foreign partners might attempt to heap indignities on the traditional Ghanaian system; the onus rests on the Ghanaian stakeholder to defend the national worldview. Since the commercial was made in Ghana, the question arises: Does the Ghanaian have a worldview? The answer has to be a yes, because no negates our very existence. It is about time we demonstrated that we have a worldview through all human endeavours, corporate advertisement included. Let advertisement dignify rather than commercialise human agents.

It is possible to jest in reverence. May Vodafone and other corporate bodies grasp that worthwhile  concept!