Vamos a ir a Sudafrica

Mexican broadcasters are no different from their Euro-American counterparts, in peddling outdated stereotypes about Africa.

The 2010 World Cup mascot, a stuffed lion. Image: Jennifer Su.

It doesn’t matter where you are or are from, Africa can’t win. And Europe and North America (and Australia) don’t have a monopoly on peddling outdated stereotypes of the continent and its people. In yet another “original” 2010 World Cup promo, we find actors and newscasters from Mexico’s Televisa network “on the way to South Africa.” And no, they’re not lost—they’re in Africa, where you find only animals roaming through the bush and “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” is on repeat. The big laughs come at 0:39 when Enrique Burak, apparently well-known for commenting on sports outside of his expertise, is eaten by a crocodile. The dialogue that follows translates as such:

“What now?”

“Well, he didn’t know that much about soccer anyway, right?”

“Ahh, good point.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, the strategy for these promos (you can view another, which is worse, here) is to showcase familiar faces from Televisa in a setting that evokes Africa for typical viewers, which would include that sunset, that wildlife, that look, let’s say, of an African safari. Says Guillermo Roman, marketing director for Televisa Sports, “We’re conscious that there is much more complexity” in South Africa. “Yes, there is cliché, but this is more about getting a smile from people, creating goodwill, so that after that, they see the depth of our work.”

The depth of their work remains to be seen.

Further Reading

Fuel’s errand

When Africa’s richest man announced the construction of the continent’s largest crude oil refinery, many were hopeful. But Aliko Dangote has not saved Nigeria. The Nigerian Scam returns to the Africa Is a Country Podcast to explain why.

Fragile state

Without an immediate change in approach, Somalia will remain a fragmented country populated by self-serving elites seeking foreign patrons.

Coming home

In 1991, acclaimed South African artist Helen Sebidi’s artworks were presumed stolen in Sweden. Three decades later, a caretaker at the residential college where they disappeared found them in a ceiling cupboard, still in their original packaging.

Imaginary homelands

A new biography of former apartheid homeland leader Lucas Mangope struggles to do more than arrange the actions of its subject into a neat chronology.

Business as usual?

This month, Algeria quietly held its second election since Abdelaziz Bouteflika was ousted in 2019. On the podcast, we ask what Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s second term means for the country.

The complexities of solidarity

Assassinated in 1978, Henri Curiel was a Jewish Egyptian Marxist whose likely killers include fascist French-Algerian colons, the apartheid South African Bureau of State Security, and the Abu Nidal Organization.