LAST week in discussing advertisements on local television channels, I mentioned in passing that our commercials are beaten hands down by what we watch on foreign stations.
Just when I thought of putting the topic to bed for now, I saw an advertisement for the launch of T Sean’s album which by now would have been overtaken by events due to national mourning.
But what shocked me in that advertisement was that the main support artiste is Macky II who is currently strutting his stuff in the Big Brother House in South Africa.
At first, I thought since I am not an avid follower of Big Brother, I could have missed his eviction only to see the popular musician going about the Big Brother hot shot business.
The other thing that came to mind was whether Macky II is the name of a band which will still feature as support performer during the album launch but clearly the advertisement left most viewers with more questions than answers.
Sometimes these adverts just all but short change the viewers who may not be as dumb as we might think.
Probably Sean wanted to ride on the popularity of Macky II but then what happens if a fan of Macky II comes to the show purely to watch him perform and not for the T-Sean album launch?
Another school of thought could be that the organisers of the album launch included Macky II because he was up for eviction last week and they were so sure that he would be back home in time for the event.
As if the misleading line up of supporting artistes was not enough of a blooper, the magnitude of the event co-sponsored by Zamtel only gets to lose some of its credibility and that of all the names around it.
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So the Ready for Marriage Unbelievable is well and truly underway on Muvi TV and boy aren’t things beginning to get personal when the ‘virgins’ on the show get occassional text messages claiming that they are not afterall ‘clean.’
I laughed at a particular message from a viewer who said the only way the guys on the show could truly be ‘virgins’ is because for one reason or another, women turn them down.
You wonder why a person would get to thinking along those lines. But obviously, the gentlemen must have taken enough stock of themselves before enlisting for the programme.
Another person went as far as acussing a participant of not being a ‘virgin’ because according to the contributor to the programme, the gentleman was on record as having been in a relationship.
It will surely get more interesting as the show goes on. We only hope the guys will not end up getting exposed for some skeletons they could have thought are safely stashed away in some closet.
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From the mailbag, here is what I pulled out;
It is my first time writing to you. I enjoyed watching the Jubilee independence celebrations on the night of 23 October.
One of the directors of programmes, as master of ceremonies, are called lately failed to distinguish between a mine shaft and a mine hoist (elevator). It being a very important national event, we deserved a well versed DOP who would give correct presentation to make the viewing more enjoyable.
Kalindawalo Daka
Hi Xavier, I hope you find my comment good enough to be published in your column.
I was very dissapointed with the way ZNBC handled the announcement of the death of the President. We understand that journalists have ethics which compel them to wait for official confirmation of such tragedies but it would also be important to run something and say according to unconfirmed reports.
It was so embarrassing that ZNBC was showing the Morning Live when international news outlets were announcing the death of our president.
I also think it was unfair for Muvi TV to run a breaking news alert announcing the President’s death then all of sudden they stopped just when viewers were expecting to get more details about the death.
Anonymous
Allow me to say something about the way television and radio stations handle national mourning every time it is declared.
We appreciate that during national mourning television stations should play solemn music but it would also be wise to run an orbituary of the late President to celebrate his life.
Mr Sata has contributed immensely to this country in so many portiforlios so why not show the audiences his life when he was governor, health minister and the time he was in the opposition.
It would be important also to bring legal brains to discuss the issues of the Constitution after the situation Zambia has found herself in.
Yes, gospel songs are good enough but let’s have something else to show the life of the man whose life we are celebrating.
Go well King Cobra, you ran your race.
For more comments manchishi@gmail.com