Can’t hide issues under a doek
FOR many years the Cell C “Take a girl child to work” campaign has created wonderful opportunities for young girls. It has given them the opportunity to experience the complex world of the fastpaced economic sector.
Men and women executives have volunteered to take young girls to their offices and to allow them to be inspired by the possibilities that they too can achieve.
In comparison with Cell C’s campaign the governmentfunded “Wear a doek” campaign initiated to celebrate Women’s Month is probably one of the most idiotic campaigns ever conceived.
How does wearing a doek raise any kind of consciousness about women’s issues?
It would be expected that the originators of the campaign would be a little more creative about the kind of messaging they wish to generate with the campaign.
The “Wear a doek” campaign was an easy choice. We all wear red ribbons to show our support for the fight against Aids.
We wear pink ribbons to show our support for breast cancer survivors. And in our society, more than a million people wear red overalls to show their disillusionment with a government that has failed to deliver on many of its promises.
So, why can’t we wear a doek when we’re trying to show that women’s issues are treated as brain-dead issues by an increasing number of bureaucrats in South African society?
This week on Facebook, Crystal Warren, a staffer at the National English Literary Museum in Grahamstown, asked a thought-provoking question of her followers. Imagine just what a difference it would make if instead of wearing a doek, we were all asked to post a picture of ourselves holding a book by a South African woman author?
Now that is creative and intelligent thinking!
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to conceive an intelligent campaign. All it requires is the ability to see a bigger picture and to map out a way in which that bigger goal can be achieved.
Too often, these ridiculous campaigns are conceived in fancy boardrooms by strategists who are not in touch with their constituencies. These campaigns would have far greater impact if they were conceived in consultation with the constituencies that they wish to serve.
Now see this huge empty block . . .
This is what happens when you put things under a doek. It’s a huge metaphor for pushing pertinent issues under the carpet and pretending that under the guise of a fashion statement that the problems will go away.
They don’t go away. The sores fester instead inside our heads and they continue to eat away at our moral fibre, leaving us as empty as that huge block.