Reclaiming the African brand

You have probably heard about Bono's Vanity Fair issue on Africa. The Irish rocker caused quite a stir when he chose to use 21 celebrities and 20 different magazine covers. His hope was that this issue would make Africa important and sexy to the magazine's audiences in the west.

Good goal, bad strategy

Bono was onto something though. For several decades the image of Africa's poor has been one of desperation and hopelessness. It is an image that has worked well for many charities which raked in the contributions from the guilt-ridden. But lately the image of a needy Africa does not evoke a sense of urgency. With the War on Terror (and its bastard offspring the war in Iraq), the rising price of oil, and the disturbing signs of disastrous climate change, Africa is no longer synonymous with depressing news. In these circumstances, more and more people in the west have grown tired of being told that Africa is their problem. Some charities like World Vision have responded by using images of happy children to negate the guilt but given circumstances the children are in, the images come across as being insincere. So how do you appeal to people to get involved with Africa's causes then?

Bono and Vanity Fair turned to emblem of pop culture, the celebrity. By associating the likes of Chris Rock and Madonna with Africa's various success stories, they attempted to infuse Africa's problems with a kind ephemeral cool. It did not work of course because celebrities aren't really that cool when they are peddling charity causes. Another reason why the plan failed is because of Bono's decision to place himself and his celebrity friends at center stage. By so doing, his celebrity power upstaged his own campaign and turned his re-branding effort into a well known cliché, that of the West speaking for a continent that cannot speak for itself.

Exposing the dilemma facing Africa's middle class

For some of those among Africa's middle class, the occupation of Africa's mantle by the likes of Bono and Gedolf exposes a dilemma. Those who grew up with the trappings brought by wealth and education had access to international media. As such, they were constantly exposed to the depressing images of Africa in western mainstream media. As they grew older, many distanced themselves from the obvious poverty on the continent in order to avoid the characterizations that tend to accompany the African label: poor, illiterate, needy, etc.. In the process, the continent was left with too few of its own with the capability to represent the continent to the international media. Most celebrities, being people of conscience, choose to fill that void and use their influence to make a difference.

In order to regain continental ownership of the African brand and its corresponding causes, Africa's middle class should draw closer to that caricature it loves to hate and take a bigger stake in the charity work on the continent.

There is no need to wait for the western news networks to cover our stories; we have our own media network in the blogosphere. Through this network, we can document and broadcast the African success stories for the world to read. Vanity Fair be damned.