A Sterling Scapegoat on the Altar of Performance
“Peace be with you.”
“And with your social media handles.”
Dearly bee-love-head. We are gathered here today, in the mighty name of Twitter, to humbly reflect upon the scapegoat of the month — Sterling Bank. Officiating today is our very own Irreverend, Cancel Culture.
Here’s the story:
As is customary with big brands, on the Easter Sunday, Sterling Bank released a graphic to commemorate the annual celebration with its Christian customers.
Like the soldiers that were instructed to guard Christ’s tomb, the media department of this bank were in for a rude awakening.
Before I take you through what I consider an unnecessarily performative reaction to this graphic, allow me to walk you through the ideation process of a content writer.
A content writer’s job is to provide information: educative, humorous, celebratory etc., that helps keep a brand relevant. A copywriter’s job is to sell a product. Sometimes, these jobs overlap but keep the distinction in mind, it’ll be important later.
Content for digital media is difficult (boy do I know it!). Digital content or copies have to be short, punchy, creative and clever enough to keep your audience looking for longer than 0.5s. Creating successful copies require a lot of thinking.
So let’s go through what the ideation process that produced Sterling’s graphic may have looked like.
Writer to self: Watching bread rise in an oven is so calming. The dough under so much pressure yet looking so peaceful (and luscious if I may add).
Writer to self: Jesus Christ is the Bread of life yeah? And He Rose under the most intense pressure ever — death. Cool cool.
Writer to team: I’m thinking along this line. But how do we tie it together and make it Nigerian?
Writer: Yo! Everyone loves Agege bread. Rich or poor, it kinda connects us all. What if we wrote “Like Agege Bread, He Rose.”
Team Lead: Jumping Jehoshaphat! You’ve done it again! Let’s Publish!
And they did. They drew an analogy between the Resurrection and a kitchen old timer that brings Nigerians a warm kind of nostalgia.
However, like its eternal counterpart, the road to Twitter hell is paved with good intentions.
Next thing Sterling knew, there were screams of BLASPHEMY all over Twitter and phrases such as ‘they can’t try this with Islam’ and ‘ridiculing Christianity’ were flying up and down. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) entered the scene and asked for CEO of Sterling Bank, Mr. Abubakar Suleiman, to be sacked for this, in their words, ‘provocative’ graphic.
The general sentiment was that following several years of tolerating jabs at Christianity, ENOUGH WAS ENOUGH. They wanted Sterling’s head on a platter; and the new Herod was Cancel Culture.
People have different levels of sensitivity, I agree. That accounts for some very, in my opinion, extreme takes on the matter. What I cannot, for the life of me, understand is why the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) released a statement and has decided to sanction Sterling Bank?
The only logical explanation is performance. And I’d classify this under ‘farce’.
In APCON’s statement on the issue (who asked them sef?) they wrote “The distasteful advertisement was neither submitted nor approved for exposure by Advertising Standard’s Panel ASP…”
Now ask yourself, was that graphic an advertisement?
No.
Seriously.
If it was, what was it selling?
Remember the distinction I made earlier between content writing and copy writing.
Why did APCON hurry to release a statement about a celebratory graphic that doesn’t sell a bank’s services but has allowed ads that implicitly promote the sexualization of people? (More on this in another article, follow me so you don’t miss it.)
Furthermore, is APCON implying, through their response, that they have a handle on every digital advert that rolls out from Nigerian brands especially on social media?
Do they watch the space in a bid to protect the values they painstakingly state when Nigerians report a brand, or they simply wait with toothpicks in their mouth till something happens?
Also, if APCON considers this graphic under their jurisdiction does it mean that they are now in charge of EVERY GRAPHIC that hits the Nigerian internet?
Give me a break.
Every personal and corporate brand is afraid of cancel culture. But performing to the loudest tune isn’t the best way to avoid it.
As for Sterling Bank, they issued an apology with the words pictured below.
And they were still roasted for the apology. People called it ‘half-hearted’ and blah blah blah. See why Jesus said prostitutes will enter the Kingdom before some of us FOLLOWERS?
Do I think the text “Like Agege Bread, He Rose” was blasphemy?
Not any more than Jesus describing his second coming like that of a thief in the night.
Do I think APCON should sit down?
I’d even buy them a chair.
However, the moral lesson that our Irreverend Cancel Culture would like you depart from this service with today is simple: the altar of performance is open to all.
The only surprise is who will be crucified next?
That’s if Elon doesn’t boot the proletariat out.
“Peace be unto you.”
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If you didn’t laugh at any joke here or laughed at ONLY 3, you better read this.
