“Serikali tafadhali, niko zaidi mbaya kabisa” was Jane Onyango Adika’s distress call following the perennial floods in Nyando, Kisumu County that saw her lose her home on more than one occasion. After her story was aired, she became an object of caricature, was laughed at and mocked with many wondering why, year in, year out, she would not move to higher grounds knowing too well, the impending danger that looms on the banks of River Nyando.
Kenyans with an entrepreneurial mind jumped at the opportunity and had a song composed from her distress call, with downloads of the songs being made into popular ringtones as DJs even made a point of playing it everywhere in their mixes.
However, cash minted from this endeavour never reached the mother of six. But with her fame spreading fast and far, she quickly caught the attention of leading telecommunications company, for which she makes the perfect face for their latest campaign that features people whose personalities are not only authentic and memorable, but whose stories are relatable to the everyday Kenyan.
In Kenya, this marks a large shift – and could be of note for modelling agencies – in the advertising world as the largest advertiser changes tact from featuring models to featuring ordinary Kenyan faces in advertisements.
Through the social media, more than ever before, we now create our own celebrities, elevating from ‘shame’ to fame those who provide us with the most bizarre sense of visual and aural shock and second-hand embarrassment.
Talent or otherwise, fight videos, wardrobe malfunctions, grammatical disasters and twerking contests receive more views compared to a musical concert with that talented performer.
Mama Serikali Saidia, as she has come to be famously known, is not alone in this claim to fame. When news reporters came in search of an eye witness for a robbery incident in 2013, they met Joseph Mburu, otherwise known as Jose mkaanji wa Kasarani or Jose the Witnesser who in an attempted twang gave a ‘ni kama ndrama ni kama vindio’ account of the “robberers who kidnapped their pockets|”.
As a serial eyewitness, he appeared again during the Westgate Mall attack, where he gave hilariously contradictory statements claiming at one point that he was inside when the terrorists attacked, and the other he was outside when all hell broke loose. “Me I just lan (run) away. Am waiting for my servant. Am very safety”
Former street urchin turned radio presenter, James Kang’ethe aka Bonoko, who also features in the campaign, was an eye witness where he gave an account – in a heavy accent and somehow slurry speech – of how a suspected thief was gunned down at Ngara and a bonoko (fake gun) placed on him. As an auto-tuned mashup of the eye witness account quickly made the rounds, the suspected thief’s plight took a back seat and James became a star, literally overnight.
For Alice Wambui, a ‘stammery’ description of a kidnapping attempt as a lady was being forced to get onto a kifikifi (motorcycle), a word she repeatedly used and mispronounced, was her launch to instant stardom.
When contacted, Safaricom revealed that aside from the campaign, this marks the beginning of a relationship with each of the four eye witnesses.
“Working together in the future depends on the outcome of the campaign and the target audience’s reaction to our work with them,” they revealed.
On why they did not approach the eye witnesses sooner, they say that it was purely a matter of timing.
“We felt that they would be perfect for our Story Ibambe Campaign so we only unveiled our relationship with them once we were ready to launch our campaign.”
Their story is reminiscent of radio personality and actor Ted Williams at a time when he was homeless and was located by a newspaper videographer, Chenoweth standing next to traffic, holding a cardboard sign with a handwritten advertisement of his voice and a request for donations.
In the recording, which Chenoweth posted on the newspaper’s website, he asked Williams to demonstrate his vocal ability. The video received significant attention allowing him to appear on numerous shows thereafter and subsequently led to many job offers. It was after the social media attention that he went back to the reason he was homeless in the first place – drinking.
Last year, Andrew Caldwell quickly became a social media trending topic when during a church convention under the prompting of officiating clergy, testified that he was “delivert” from homosexuality and set free from lusting after “mens.”
His declaration prompted controversy and criticism of both Caldwell and the church, but mostly served as comedic fodder as a result of Caldwell’s flamboyant attire, exaggerated lisp, animated expressions and gross mispronunciation of words. A “gospel” song version of his testimony named ‘I’m Not Gay No More’, quickly made the rounds, making him an instant celebrity.
In Alabama, Antoine Dodson’s sister was almost raped by an intruder following a break-in. His “Hide yo’ kids, hide yo’ wife” eye witness account became an Internet sensation due to Dodson’s stereotypically effeminate mannerisms and style of dress and outlandishly animated expressions.
