In this 21st century, branding is everything. Each year, corporations spend billions of dollars on branding and marketing. On the surface it might look like a waste of money.....but i doubt that these for profit organizations will keep spending that much annually if they were not, and are not getting any returns. There is an old saying about not judging a book by its cover but, try as much as we can, subconsciously, we are always going to judge things by how they appear. Most businesses and countries understand this and take measures to present themselves a ''certain'' way. Africa, it seems doesn't care about the image it puts out. I'm not singling out a specific country or region, but the whole continent. The continent doesn't know how to tell its own story. The media and content writers have let HER down in this regard. They are so caught up in reporting sensationalistic news that they forget the effect it has on their people. Africa is now synonymous with poverty, disease and hungry children. In fact the best pictures you can find of Africa online are those of animals...take a look at this
that is the results you get when you type African child. now type (asian child)
or try European.
well, it is plausible to state that there are starving children in some parts of Africa or that some parts are poverty ridden...but the same is also true in every part of the world. oddly enough, these kinds of pictures these other parts of the globe are not marketed as much. The African newsman finds satisfaction or profit in marketing his...Each and every country on this planet is trying hard to control the image the outside has of it..Africa simply doesn't care. For example, most western social media platforms are banned in china by the government..this include Facebook, twitter, Instagram and YouTube. it is therefore strange that a state owned media such as CCTV(CHINA CENTRAL TELEVISION ) has YouTube and Facebook pages....but thinking critically, its understandable. They need to add a voice to the story the world tells of them. Why? It's because these stories go a long way in shaping peoples perception. Think about it. What comes to mind when you hear, "middle east?" most people that have never been there immediately think; bombs, guns, terrorist. This is because that's what the media feeds us.
For every piece of information we come into contact with, it changes us..the effects may not be immediately evident but subconsciously, something happens whether we believe it or not... That something is what has made phrases like "eat your food,there are starving children in Africa" almost normal...human beings respond to psychological suggestions. The psychological basis of suggestibility is simply a tendency in human nature to believe any statement that is repeated a great number of times. So what the media keeps saying no matter how untrue,becomes fact after sometime.
What does the African media talk about then? Is there a reason why they themselves keep shining light on all the bad stuff? I think there is. Mind you, Im not against the media reporting the truth but both sides of the coin should be shown.Here are two truths; 1. A soldier was lynched in Ghana 2.Ghana starting manufacturing cars. BUT of course the Ghanaian and African media as a whole will gravitate more towards the lynching news. Why? why is the negativity over-hyped and the positivity almost never mentioned? Its because spreading negativity fits the narrative the average African leader wants. Most African leaders spend majority of their time overseas asking for aid. What will be the story if their respective countries are portrayed as doing OK? Not so good for business. So the African governments will tarnish their own images and degrade themselves in order to be able to beg for funds and aids to embezzle. The rest of the world dances along to feel in charge and better off. To be able to tell their citizens that no matter how badly this government is doing, we are at least better off than them.
But its not just the mainstream media that is at fault here. The citizenry also is...i get why the news agencies publish some of this degrading stories. its captivating and entices readers to buy or visit their site. In a nutshell, its all about the money...but as a regular citizen, whats your motivation for sharing such stories?
