🔅 🍺 "Be a Man, Drink Guinness!": Colonial Exploitation or Trailblazing Success?
Lagos' Collapsing Buildings and the Ethiopia-Egypt-Somalia Showdown
Image of the Day
A view of Domoni, Anjouan including mosque. Comoros
Spotlight Stories
Guinness's Trailblazing Success in Africa Mirrors Colonial Dynamics
Africa is the world's largest market for Guinness beer, and Nigeria is second only to Britain in terms of the brand's global consumer base. The Irish brand's remarkable success on the continent is widely regarded as a trailblazing business model, and a significant factor behind this success is the company's advertising campaigns over the years.
In a fascinating new research paper, award-winning sociologist Jordanna Matlon analyzes three prominent Guinness Africa ad campaigns. She explores the market forces behind the brand's popularity and how the ads have targeted male consumers and shaped conceptions of masculinity in ways that echo dynamics of colonial economic extraction.
Through campaigns featuring characters like the fictional journalist "Michael Power" and later the "everyman" working in the informal economy, Matlon argues Guinness has adeptly evolved its advertising over time to exploit shifting ideals of African masculinity.
By getting men to showcase their worth and status through conspicuous consumption of Guinness, the brand has enriched itself without uplifting their consumers' economic position.
Matlon introduces the concept of "bottom billion masculinity" to describe how corporations extract wealth from even the poorest consumers by targeting men's search for validation. She contends that despite their empowering veneer, Guinness campaigns have reinforced gender divisions and colonial-style economic dynamics.
To read Matlon's own in-depth perspective on her research into Guinness's trailblazing success and advertising strategy in Africa, and what it reveals about the intersection of gender, consumer culture, and post-colonial economics, check out this fascinating interview.
Lagos: The City Where Buildings Go to Die (Every Two Weeks)
If you thought your last Jenga game ended badly, try being a building in Lagos. Nigeria's megacity has seen a building collapse every two weeks on average so far this year.
So what's causing all these architectural faceplants?
According to experts, it's a spicy mix of shoddy construction, lax regulation, and alleged corner-cutting by contractors trying to save a buck.
There are rules and inspectors in place, but the system doesn’t work. Those responsible for the collapses are never held accountable, so the cycle of destruction just keeps on spinning.
In 2021, a 21-story luxury apartment building under construction in the fancy Ikoyi neighborhood collapsed, killing 42 people, but nearly three years later, the official investigation into the collapse is still sealed. The governor has the report and recommendations, but apparently it's on a strict "need-to-know" basis, and the public doesn't need to know.
And yet, the city's booming population, now over 20 million, means the demand for housing is skyrocketing.
Construction is happening everywhere, but often without proper oversight. Plans are supposed to be approved, inspectors should check the sites, and only legit building materials should make it to the market.
In reality, procedures are skipped more often than leg day at the gym. The Lagos State Building Control Agency blames a lack of resources, with only about 300 inspectors for the entire city. Experts say they need thousands more to keep up with all the construction.
With insufficient supervision, some shady companies are getting away with violating building codes, using subpar materials, and hiring poorly trained workers.
Even when violations are found after a collapse, the building agency doesn't take legal action. Political connections allegedly help culprits avoid consequences.
So far this year, Lagos has already seen 19 building collapses - the highest rate in a decade.
Egypt and Somalia: Teaming Up Against Ethiopia
Looks like Egypt and Somalia have been getting pretty cozy lately, with Egypt recently sending a second arms shipment to Somalia's federal government. Ethiopia is not happy about it.
Ethiopia's foreign minister, Taye Atske Selassie, expressed concern that these weapons could end up in the wrong hands (aka terrorists) and further destabilize the region. But Somalia's state minister for foreign affairs, Ali Omar, clapped back on X, saying he was "surprised" Ethiopia had the audacity to question Somalia's right to defend itself.
So, what's the beef between these three countries?
Well, Egypt and Ethiopia have been locked in a long-running dispute over Ethiopia's construction of a massive dam on the Blue Nile, which provides 95% of Egypt's fresh water. Meanwhile, Somalia is miffed at Ethiopia for signing a deal with the breakaway region of Somaliland to lease a portion of its coast, which Somalia sees as an attempt to annex its territory.
Somaliland warned that these weapons deliveries could trigger an "arms race" and jeopardize regional security. And with over 20 million people already internally displaced across East Africa due to conflict and extreme weather, the last thing the region needs is more drama.
Ethiopia's intelligence chief, Redwan Hussien, confirmed Somali fears when he said Ethiopia was not only seeking commercial access to ports but also wanted to fulfill its historical claim to the Horn of Africa's coast.
Somalia's foreign minister even threatened to support rebels fighting Ethiopia if the deal with Somaliland goes through.
Egypt has also muscled its way into the UN-backed African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia, which has Ethiopia feeling a bit paranoid about "external actors aiming to destabilize the region."
It's a complex web of alliances, grievances, and strategic interests, with Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed viewing sea access and the Nile dam as crucial to his plans to drive growth and turn Ethiopia into a manufacturing powerhouse.
Attempts to diffuse the situation have failed so far, with Somalia demanding that Ethiopia scrap the Somaliland deal before any direct talks can happen.
Will these three countries find a way to play nice and share the Nile?
Food for Thought
“You do not teach the paths of the forest to an old gorilla”
— DRC Proverb