Written By: Nani Hapa—There is no denying the global pervasiveness and stickiness of western pop culture. Beyoncé means “music phenom” in English, Swahili, Yoruba, and Zulu, but Miriam Makeba does not translate to the same across cultures, even though there is no serious question that Makeba has defined that space in Africa. Although African countries have local celebrities—Omotola Jalade Ekeinde (Nigeria), Lira (South Africa), Jackie Appiah (Ghana), Angelique Kidjo (Benin) to name a few—as a general matter, Africans have imported and correspondingly celebrated western pop culture en masse without critical regard to who or what we are celebrating. As a result, western celebrities have been elevated in Africa—translating directly into dollars and cents with respect to everything from album sales to endorsement deals—at the expense of African celebrities. This is most apparent in the fashion industry where marketing campaigns targeting African women are littered with western celebrities: Scarlett Johansen for Dolce & Gabbana, Kate Moss for Yves Saint Laurent, and Halle Berry for Revlon, to name a few.
Increasingly, however, the fashion industry is becoming hip to the star power of African celebrities, and it is paying off for African celebrities who are ever more scoring endorsement deals as brand ambassadors, not just because of their beauty (as has been the case with African models such as Liya Kebede for Louis Vuitton) but because of their celebrity status. Read about Marketing Beauty To African Women.
(Photo Credits: L'Oreal)
