Speaking of Brands

In a local daily, one writer opined that Michael Jackson was a formidable brand. To him the creation of best selling records of all times and the sight of fans becoming unglued because of his death were enough to classify the MJ brand as all-enduring. But is it?

Music appeal, like most products goes hand in hand with the image of the creator—at least to the informed. MJ from childhood until early adulthood was a phenomenon of unsurpassed talent, whose creations sent the young and the young at heart into ecstasies. Peddlers of sugared carbonated water, which the young are prone to guzzling, gave him carte blanc checks for commercials. He was on a roll. They dubbed him “ The King of Pop.” But then all human constructs come laden with flaws. Soon the ass of a god began to leak—the effeminate voice, the gradual change in nose shape, the lightening of skin tone and the affinity for the company of children.

The general fan chorus was: Come on, MJ, we have grown; grow with us! That was not to be. And so many fans left him in his childhood where he felt most comfortable—a childhood many of us could never imagine. This same childhood projection was to become his Achilles’ heel in the morbid American sexuality and money. Soon he was milked of millions of dollars on conjectures of molestations. He lost many more fans and would-be fans. He was later to buy his own playmate kids produced from donated white sperms and eggs.

Amidst all these advertisers could not touch him with a long pole. Other than to his hard-core fans his music lost its appeal. Was the sold-out comeback tickets mere curiosity? If it were for his music, the fans would have been disappointed. MJ would have ended up in failure and humiliation that could have even killed him on stage. The gods spared him the ordeal.

So, speaking of brands; maintaining one requires skills, adroitness, ability and willingness to change and adopt with the times. For example, one might ask: What is the NRM brand—if any? Supposedly it was sold on being different from past regimes and getting rid of the Northern hegemony. It has achieved the latter and made many people happy. However the chief archtitect could have wished the North, especially Acoli, to come to its knees. Other than the random obsequiousness and confusion, that will never happen. The NRM has also contained several amateurish armed challenges to its authority which gives it credibility among the bewildered masses. But let us look at the so-called Fundamental Change.

The Fundamental Change clearly defines the NRM brand. There is the wild-wild-west capitalism defined by fire sale of quasi-government enterprises, neglect of public infrastructures and get-rich-quick greed manifested by obscene corruptions. Then, what about key government positions? The chief architect talks about non-sectarianism but, in broad day light, cynically packs key positions with his tribal people. That is change, indeed. More than anything, the NRM has refined the art of self-perpetuation through fear, double talks and bribes. Is this brand sustainable in the long run? Even the uninformed and unthinking masses will soon see through the charade and stop buying NRM.