T h e n e e d t o d e v e l o p a b r a n d i n g c u l t u r e i n A f r i c a n s.
Brand is one of the most visible aspects of marketing practices. It’ s an important practice in the growth and development of competitive economies. In pre-industrial days, brands represented a form of authentication that enabled people to know exactly what they were buying and whether such items were trustworthy.
So far, Africa is at the fringes of the market in which brands reign supreme and generate wealth for companies. This is increasingly important as competitive economies become ubiquitous and developing countries such as China and India embrace the model. But what about
Africa?
Branding is a practice that hasn’ t been fully embraced by Africans. While Westerns are“ hiding” their internal struggles, Africans will rather expose all their struggle to the world.
It’ s very common to find many young Africans sharing content that doesn’ t depict a positive image of the continent. But it will be very difficult or uncommon to see such practices made by a citizen from developed economies.
That’ s, branding has a lot to do with information and the way we present it to the world. You may be the poorest person in the world but with a high esteem from others because of your branding. Your attitude – the way you behave, present or perceive yourself – determine your altitude.
Thus, every African citizen should pay attention to the type of content, he / she shares on Africa. Hence, the importance of education to citizen journalism, active and responsible citizenship..
Moreover, the mainstream media are also at the frontline when talking about branding. For decades, African scholars have criticized media representations of African poverty. The media coverage of poverty does not reflect how the poor see themselves. There is a gulf between mediated poverty and the lived experience of poverty. While it is easy to blame individual journalists, there are structural explanations for this problem.