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By Isaac Ato MENSAH
Accra – 12 April, 2019
The Woodin photo of a poolside model is not good enough and exposes how we continue to cavort with ignorance.
If Woodin intends to show us a swimming costume then Ghana is in even more serious trouble.
We shall not even get into the hair design and accessories; we must be charitable.
Three culprits are identifiable; first, the ad agency; second the Woodin corporate affairs team; and third, the standards of the society within which such life-threatening communication thrive.
Ad agencies the world over have such a meticulous process of managing an account.
Let us examine the likely scenario this ad went through.
The account must most likely have been won by an ad agency that made presentations and representations that it has the expertise in both PR and advertising.
Since the advertiser or client knows that its PR/marketing/advertising teams are only locally trained, it is happy to push any and every INTEGRATED COMMUNICATIONS job onto its ad agency, including even PowerPoint presentations.
When the MESSAGES are developed, they are shared on all the CONVERGENT MEDIA platforms; websites, blogs, social media, TV, radio, TV, e-fliers, e-magazines, e-newsletters………. please add to the list.
In an article published on 24 May, 2018 on theconversation.com, Muchazondida Mkono, explained: “Social media platforms are providing Africans with an opportunity to counter negative stereotypes by giving them representational agency”.
“For example, the Facebook blog “Everyday Africa” showcases, cell phone photography shot across Africa, in an attempt to form a more complete portrayal of life on the continent than the mainstream media allows,” added Mkono in the said theconversation.com article titled “Changing the African narrative through social media platforms”.
The number of selfies and cell phone videos that have been taken featuring this killer Woodin coffin ?swimming costume is anybody’s guess. And will they not find their way onto blogs, live streaming programmes, business news and entertainment news programmes?
Looking at this photograph critically, with my Online Journalism class last night, the consensus was that it is a swimming costume.
Of course one or two persons could not resist diving dangerously into “What is wrong with having a print cloth as a swimming costume?……. it is our African wear…..we must cherish our own”.
So it is imperative that we offer unequivocal answers.
YOU CANNOT SWIM IN YOUR BAGGY CLOTHES; YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED NEAR THE SWIMMING POOL. PERSONS WEARING COTTON FABRICS WILL BE TURNED AWAY.
As several students strongly explained yesterday, our Woodin model can get strangled by her clothes, the water will undress her……….. and she will become naked in the pool.
Swimming costumes are specially designed and expensive, no doubt.
Danica Lo, writing for glamour.com on 13 August, 2013, cited a report that explained the problem.
She stated inter alia: “Since most swimwear is sold during the summer, designers need to figure out the most efficient and economical way to manufacture something that’ll only really be on store shelves for three or four months of the year. For a lot of companies that means working with factories closer to home (say, in the US rather than overseas) and/or not scoring manufacturing discounts ordinarily associated with larger orders”.
Well, Ghana is a country with almost 365 days of summer, but learning how to swim or getting closer to a pool is a rare privilege.
Chances are that the model, all the posse in the ad agency and the entire Woodin Ghana staff have not even stepped into a swimming pool before.
PLEASE DO NOT TELL US THE AD WAS NOT CREATED HERE IN GHANA! YOU DID NOT HAVE TO APPROVE IT FOR DISTRIBUTION!!!
Our people are heading to the poolsides and beaches this Easter – and the embarrassing pictures and videos will all be the subject of ONLINE JOURNALISM through the CONVERGENT MEDIA.
What this Woodin ad has taught us is summed up in one of my mentor’s quips: “Underdevelopment has many facets”.
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