Stopping Etisalat Nigeria’s Misleading Advert on DSTv… #BooksStillRock

I do not know how many of you have seen or come across Etisalat Nigeria’s (@Etisalat_9ja) #CliqLite advert on DSTv Nigeria, and I do not know what you think about it. If you have not paid attention to it, I would recommend that you do the next time it comes on.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I have always been an early adopter of technology. I love tech and use tech, but something about this advert just niggles me. I have caught the advert a few times on DSTv (which for some reason appears to be the only place it is currently aired – I stand to be corrected), and every time, it just leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Maybe because of the way the advert starts. The advert has a female child talking about how books are this and that and mentions that books are heavy and complicated, and then here comes #CliqLite to the rescue to solve the issues of heavy and complicated books…

Like Seriously??? While the advert is a generally nice one, it is sad that that is what Etisalat’s PR strategy people could come up with!!! Come on guys!!!

While I admit that technology and the CliqLite platform have a lot of fun features to help kids learn and have fun, I think it is criminally insensitive to disparage books in a bid to sell/market a product.

I have children and frankly, I think today’s children have too much screen time. Years down the line, I believe our societies will begin to see a few health and behavioral issues associated with too much screen time (i.e. if they haven’t begun to manifest already). Enough said.

I think every child should read, and read books, real books. Call me a traditionalist, but turning pages to explore and learn is still a veritable way of learning and having fun. I have a bookshelf full of books that it is my hope that one day my children would all read, and then even read more than I have (especially the good stuff)…

What Etisalat Nigeria is promoting with this message is misleading and dangerous to say the least, especially to young and impressionable minds. Throw that message into a mix of children who are generally lazier than their forebears were at those ages. Throw that message into a society where you also wonder how many children have access to those nice gadgets and gizmos you see in the advert. How many of these children can pay you the N48,000 to get a #CliqLite Tablet with all the fun in the whole universe. To tell some of these children that books are complicated will only increase their aversion for reading and even when they have these resources available, will spend most of the time playing just the games.

We need our children to read books (real books and not just the digital ones). We need to show them how to turn those pages and then watch them do it of their own volition. We may get to eradicate the physical books one day, but in Nigeria, we are not there yet and need to pass the right messages across.

As a product of all the books I have read and I am still reading, I would like to raise a campaign to stop that advert on TV. I would like as many people as who have seen this advert and feel same, to raise their voices against such misconceptions promulgated because of marketing strategies. #BooksStillRock

#CliqLite may offer a world of fun and stuff for children but DO NOT create wrong impressions in their young minds because you want to sell a product (just in case you are wondering, it is not a free service).

So, will you join me in this campaign?? As a responsible company, Etisalat Nigeria needs to pull that advert and replace it with one that is more responsible to our children and teaches the right concepts. Somebody in their PR department did not do their jobs properly.

If you will, then either spread this message or create one of your own and let folks around you know.

 You may however choose to disparage this write-up and pass it off as one who is not in touch with the current trends… I can assure you that you will be very very far from the truth.

God bless…

From A Concerned Parent Who Loves Books

#BooksStillRock