Africa Is a Country

Coco Cola and the "African Boy"

Coco Cola and the "African Boy"

By
Sean Jacobs

I’m a bit late with this, but I’ll post it anyway. (Look out for lots of posts about World Cup commercials on this site over the next few days.) Another one of the myriad of commercials made to order for Coco Cola to dominate soft drink consumption during next month’s World Cup.   This time it is animation backed by a voice-over and yet another remix of K’Naan’s “Waving Flag” single again.  It is was made with Youtube in mind.  The commercial is titled “Quest.” It is the third in a series: After the original ad with K’Naan and the ridiculous “celebration” ad with Roger Milla, there’s this. The “Quest” commercial has been out since the last week of April. It is the story of an “African Boy” battling giant Transformer-like machines (“robots” in the commercial) to play football.  The robots seem to play for Brazil.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFe6sVgYh3M

What do you think?

I find the commercial very unattractive and not appealing. I just don’t feel it. Here Africa is one giant squatter camp filled with garbage dumps and discarded robots. And what’s with the Peter Pan like flying creatures?

More importantly, Africa here is different. Poor. They play on dusty pitches. They play barefoot. Amid garbage. As a result, you won’t recognize host nation South Africa in these videos.  You see the same thing in Pepsi’s “Africa” commercial or any of the K’Naan commercials.

But as someone reminded me recently: In few of these representations do the creators care what Africans think or how they really live or what they are like are.

(BTW, my suspicions is that South African creatives play a key role in the Coco Cola commercials. Please tell me I’m wrong.)

Further Reading

Not exactly at arm’s length

Despite South Africa’s ban on arms exports to Israel and its condemnation of Israel’s actions in Palestine, local arms companies continue to send weapons to Israel’s allies and its major arms suppliers.

Ruto’s Kenya

Since June’s anti-finance bill protests, dozens of people remain unaccounted for—a stark reminder of the Kenyan state’s long history of abductions and assassinations.

Between Harlem and home

African postcolonial cinema serves as a mirror, revealing the limits of escape—whether through migration or personal defiance—and exposing the tensions between dreams and reality.

The real Rwanda

The world is slowly opening its eyes to how Paul Kagame’s regime abuses human rights, suppresses dissent, and exploits neighboring countries.

In the shadow of Mondlane

After a historic election and on the eve of celebrating fifty years of independence, Mozambicans need to ask whether the values, symbols, and institutions created to give shape to “national unity” are still legitimate today.

À sombra de Mondlane

Depois de uma eleição histórica e em vésperas de celebrar os 50 anos de independência, os moçambicanos precisam de perguntar se os valores, símbolos e instituições criados para dar forma à “unidade nacional” ainda são legítimos hoje.