Here is why the Maggi advert has caused some outrage on Twitter
Starting Saturday, November 3, 2018, the anger was bubbling under, women were gathering forces and anger was gaining credence and followers with the audience.
By 2 pm on Sunday, November 4, 2018, the anger had found its way through Twitter NG and copious doses of vicious female energy could be measured through dastardly toned tweets.
Women were angry, and they were taking no prisoners.
The reason for the anger; Maggi, the legendary household seasoning, famous for its yellow and red packaging, with a reputation forged in kitchen, pots and party rice from generation to generation dropped a sexist ad.
What we watch is instructive
In the video, a woman was portrayed as a, ‘super mom’ who was alone to handle everything from her job, to taking care of the kids and then cooking, all within her day while her husband only waltzes in without lifting a finger.
It is a perception feminists had been trying to shed in this modern world; not only because it gives men license to objectify and relatively place greater home-making responsibilities on women, but also because our children will take such as the only way to live.
We cannot afford to keep placing the sizeable onus of cooking and cleaning on women while we give our men tacit permission for unearned freedom. It is wrong.
How do we give them tacit permission?
From media, they see daily, which impacts the subconscious. When we see five media files a day that preach the same thing and the regular world accepts it to a larger extent, beneficiaries of that idea begin to accept it as the right way of life.
In this case, duties that should be mutual become one-sided and enslavement of women continues.
Like anything, the outrage in the wake of that Maggi advert from yesterday caused gender wars on Twitter; most men on one side woke women the other.
In truth though, gender wars are not pointless, the point has been made on rightness and wrongness. The wars or conversations of it just seek to fine-tune lines of acceptability.
Knorr vs Maggi?
From the outrage came the canvass from Nigerian feminists on Twitter to boycott Maggi for its legendary rival, Knorr.
A promotion has equally started to position Knorr as the true winner for Twitter feminists. It is a reasonable fight, but the question is;
How effective will this activism be on the larger Nigerian society?
The Twitter backlash is a small victory that only wins one battle at a time in a larger war, though not pointless.
Every victory is a small contribution to the larger inevitable victory of equity, fairness and fair treatment, regardless of gender.
The reaction has already started a conversation on how brands can come up with ads that can please both the silent majority and vocal minority.
Brands should not be arrogant in their stance. For a legacy brand like Maggi that is as Nigerian culture as it gets, tweaking their narrative to suit a more modern and gender balanced narrative will score them cool points.
