Sometime last year, I wrote an article that examined Daphne’s brand collaboration with a flour company. That article remains one of my most treasured articles as the discussions that followed in the comment sections was reflective of why I wanted to write for this platform in the first place and it specifically sparked the kind of high-level engagement and discussions I wanted and hoped it would evoke.
Sadly it has not always been the case for many other of my articles; from people refusing to finish reading an article and yet having an opinion on it, to others concluding on the issues brought out in the article before even starting the article, daggers have had to be drawn to settle some issues. Overall, I cannot complain though, because the experience has been more positive than negative.
But to get back to that article on Daphne; it was an opinion piece I had written, and my views expressed in the article was that Daphne and her team should not have agreed to have her image associated with the flour brand, for as I thought at the time and still think now, it did not go in line with her personal brand.
Someone from the company, no doubt angered by my views, said the aim of my article was to “chercher le buzz.” I kindly told him to scroll through our feed and read the last ten articles that we had written and ask himself if he thought our platform was out to gain cheap popularity as he proposed. I told him that it was an opinion on their marketing that I had given and if he really wanted to defend their choice of Daphne as a brand ambassador for their flour brand, then he should write something – a rebuttal of my article, basically, and state from a marketing perspective, why they had chosen Daphne to be their brand ambassador, and send to us via email. And that we would publish it.
I never got a reply to that comment, nor an email.
This is not an isolated incidence. It’s always easy to throw such claims in comment sections but when it is time to back it up, people usually chicken out. No doubt they realise that they should have taken some steps back and looked at the elephant from a fuller view point.
Why am I bringing this topic today?
Well, for the simple reason that it has become very common for people on social media to accuse others of seeking attention, gain traction, gain likes, gain followers, gain retweets for the sake of it, when the people accused have presented an opinion that is not liked or not well-appreciated by the accuser.
I was a “victim” not so long ago. I wrote an article that was none too pleasing to many of Jovi’s fans – no surprise there – and one or two persons said I wrote that article to attract traffic. Someone said any time I wanted to gain traffic and seek for attention, I write about Jovi: a very laughable accusation.
I’ve been writing for PoiseSocial since 2018. In that time, I have written 4 articles that DIRECTLY concerned Jovi. That is 2.7% of the articles I have published here. Also, last year, I wrote an article about Stanley Enow where I questioned whether or not Motherland Records was short-changing itself, and one of Stanley Enow’s fans also accused me of seeking for cheap traffic.
But let’s not dwell on those two fellas. That is just to show that the fruits do not fall from just about any tree, and I am sure you got that already.
What I am more concerned about is our generation’s penchant for throwing this argument around… carelessly, I would say. There are two issues involved in the whole matter. Each one easily as grave as the other.
The very first one is that I think people use the argument of people chasing clout as a psychological barrier to engaging in opinion exchange. It’s some sort of mental refuge, I would say. A reductive thinking mechanism that is very dangerous as it tends to always dismiss opposite views and opinions, not on the basis of their validity or intrinsic worth, but on the very strange and elusive concept that they are meant to do nothing else but draw attention for the sake of the giver’s own what, ego? Pride? Self-satisfaction?
For a place that is as rich as the internet on views, opinions, and very often, critical thinking, it is quite a waste and a shame that people pass on the opportunity to to learn and to observe a macrocosmic and almost infinite platform that is adrift from the microcosm in which the limited-ness of their environment and personal experiences have held them.
It is basically the same thought pattern for people that call you a hater because you do not like a particular worth of art – nevermind your own personal preferences. You get many upcoming rappers for example, that NO ONE knows, talking about their haters. Oga, what haters??
The seconds issue and one that is also glaring is the serious and inherent issue itself of the actual fact that people, many young people for that matter, are actually on the internet with the aim to go viral and become famous – indeed, chase clout.
I am reminded of a story I read once on a “please hide my ID platform.” It was a guy who was complaining about his girlfriend and her use of Instagram. He was insecure and complained that the girl never posted pictures of him on her IG page. He added that when he confronted her, she said she was “growing her brand.” He was vexed by her answer and questioned (and rightly so) what brand she was growing. He said she had nothing going for her. She had just had her first degree and was home, had no plans for her life, and was doing nothing except ‘pressing phone’ and taking sexy pictures for the gram.
I am also reminded of a contestant from a French reality show, Secret Story. Back in 2011, this guy, Francois Xavier (FX) had left the show and after 2 years, had realised that his popularity had waned. He threw himself against a moving car, hoping to have his name in the papers and get some much-needed attention. He was killed.
I’m also reminded of the lady who said Davido had impregnated her. Davido filed a defamation suit and she apologised. Just three days ago, someone accused Justin Bieber of sexual assault, and her story was debunked by Bieber himself. Remember the girl who accused Neymar of rape last year?
I’m sure you know other such stories that I don’t.
It’s just another example that calls to question where our generation is heading to. It’s just another example that questions our beliefs and value system. It is just another example that questions our firmness at taking criticism and distinguishing a good advice from an actual bad one, so much have the lines been blurred by our self-absorbed self.
We are facing a major existential crisis as individuals and as functioning entities in a larger society, too self-absorbed in our own limited selves to understand that the world does not revolve around us. And unfortunately social media has come to amplify that.
I sincere fear for our generation and the one coming after us.
- Wandji Wilfred