Africa Is a Country

If commercials were a competition

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

If commercials were a competition

By
Sean Jacobs

A sample of some of the TV commercials made specifically for the 2012 African Cup of Nations football tournament.

Gervinho, Andre Ayew, Kwadwo Asamoah and Abel Taarabt (Image: Nike).

The semi-finals of the 2012 African Cup of Nations are played later today. I’ll have to find a video stream of the games somewhere online (none of the American TV stations or sports channels are broadcasting the tournament live). Meanwhile, as someone obsessed with media, I could not help but notice the TV commercials on Eurosport or any of the other channels whose streams I’ve been lucky to access.

Probably the most striking ad is Nike’s “New Generation” ad with Andre Ayew (of Olympique Marseille and Ghana), Gervinho (of Arsenal and Cote D’Ivoire), Adel Taarabt (Queens Park Rangers and Morocco) and Kwadwo Asamaoah (Udinese and Ghana). At least three of these players – Ayew, Gervinho and Asamaoah – will be involved in matches today. The ad is part of Nike’s series of commercials, “The New Masters of Football,” which aims to shake off “the stereotypical view of the African game.” The “New Generation” ad opens with a voice over by an actor: “Too often we have seen African dreams turned to dust, or end in defeat, no matter how glorious. We pledge to break the cycle.”

Then there’s this ad shot in Dubai for Indian-owned phone company, Muse, in support of Cote d’Ivoire’s national team. A few members of the Ivorian national team are joined by local actors.

Predictably there are ads with children. Like this one in which legendary Liberian footballer George Weah joins a group of children in Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, to kick footballs into a goal stacked with drums. It’s for another mobile and phone card company, Lebara.

Finally, Lebara has another ad that looks like it was also shot in South Africa. For this one they got the Indian composer A R Rahman to compose something.

Further Reading

After the uprising

Years into Cameroon’s Anglophone conflict, the rebellion faces internal fractures, waning support, and military pressure—raising the question of what future, if any, lies ahead for Ambazonian aspirations.

In search of Saadia

Who was Saadia, and why has she been forgotten? A search for one woman’s story opens up bigger questions about race, migration, belonging, and the gaps history leaves behind.

Binti, revisited

More than two decades after its release, Lady Jaydee’s debut album still resonates—offering a window into Tanzanian pop, gender politics, and the sound of a generation coming into its own.

The bones beneath our feet

A powerful new documentary follows Evelyn Wanjugu Kimathi’s personal and political journey to recover her father’s remains—and to reckon with Kenya’s unfinished struggle for land, justice, and historical memory.

What comes after liberation?

In this wide-ranging conversation, the freedom fighter and former Constitutional Court justice Albie Sachs reflects on law, liberation, and the unfinished work of building a just South Africa.

The cost of care

In Africa’s migration economy, women’s labor fuels households abroad while their own needs are sidelined at home. What does freedom look like when care itself becomes a form of exile?

The memory keepers

A new documentary follows two women’s mission to decolonize Nairobi’s libraries, revealing how good intentions collide with bureaucracy, donor politics, and the ghosts of colonialism.

Making films against amnesia

The director of the Oscar-nominated film ‘Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat’ reflects on imperial violence, corporate warfare, and how cinema can disrupt the official record—and help us remember differently.