By Kolapo Olapoju
Nollywood producer/director, Charles Novia has raised cogent concerns about the negative impact/effect brand endorsements will possibly have in the Nigerian entertainment industry.
The movie maker, who is also a writer voiced his concerns over situations where a particular artiste that had been signed by a brand would not be able to perform in another show/concert where a rival brand is a major or even support sponsor.
He also pointed out the fact that future awards ceremony might suffer a large intentional absence of top stars, especially where the award is being sponsored by brand A, and a chunk of the nominated acts are signed to brand B’.
Novia says there has to be a certain level/degree of brand harmony in other to curb this growing menace that is evidently dangerous for an industry that’s only at its infancy.
Below are excerpts from the article titled The Politics of Celebrity Endorsements published on his blog:
‘However, a glaring reality is coming to the fore and many may laugh it off right now but it is staring at us in the face. In 2013, many of the live events and sponsored concerts were tepid in performance value. Many of the top acts had been signed by one telecom brand or the other and since the headliners in the music industry have divided their brand endorsements among various telcos, many could not perform for friends or business concerns where a competing telco or brand was a major or support sponsor. This was basically because of watertight caveats in the artiste’s contracts which forbids them from attending such shows. Thus, most of the live concerts in 2014 in Nigeria were either lacking in major star power or just repetitive in talents signed on by the brands. And the performance value of such events was basically average. Many of the brands which had campus shows suffered this fate’.
‘The example above is one of many others which are a usual occurrence. My gut feeling is this; the business will grow for the brands but the whole performance and event industry may very well suffer for this. For example, if a movie awards event had MTN as the major sponsor and 50% of the nominees are Glo Ambassadors, only an idiot would need explanations on why half the nominees would not be present at the awards even if they eventually won. Same goes for music awards events. This cycle is becoming predictable. And the performance value suffers for it’.
