The fact that the Maggi brand has survived against a tumultuous economic climate, introducing new variants of the seasoning into the market and latching onto the zeitgeist of social media only shows its resilience. More of this can be attributed to brand loyalty, inspired from the food television show Maggi Kitchen hosted by the ever-joyful veteran chef Iyabo Lawani around the early 2000s. Over the years, the company has churned out adverts for promotion of new products and granted endorsement deals to pop stars like Tiwa Savage, media personality Toke Makinwa and blogger Sisi Yemmie.
Women are primarily the target audience of Maggi, a brand manifesto built on conservative values and lionizes the traditional Nigerian family. The company just recently launched an advert titled #SheMakesADifference, which isn’t any different from its past catalogue of adverts portraying women as warmly domesticated and caregivers, mythologising Maggi as a secret weapon that binds families over sumptuous foods. But in this blazing age of women empowerment and feminist conversations percolating beyond social media, Maggi’s new campaign falls immensely short.
#SheMakesADifferenceThe beginning of the video shows a woman cooking in the kitchen, reaching for Maggi cubes in a jar and for a bit of complexity, she’s rendered into other facets: slayer and a boss lady at her office giving a presentation, then checking Instagram for new recipes and making market errands and ending up back home as a kitchen grandmaster, aiming to please her family as she makes a delightful dish of jollof rice. All this is happening while her husband offers nothing tangible, lurking like a shadow and only revealing himself when the food is served. “I like what I do,â€� she says finally, with a smile, as if to reassure us that her joyful participation in gendered domestic labour won’t make her combust, or push her beyond her endurance and limits.
But we know this is a lie, and that there’s only so much women can take before they crack because they are humans. The advert valorizes women’s suffering and labour, underpinned by gender roles that Maggi has foisted as a mission statement for years. Although allowing women to exist outside of a domestic environment, the advert still prioritises and places more value on the woman-in-the-kitchen/superwoman archetype, the woman who toils and juggles the demands of family life and other responsibilities especially without external help.
Whatâ€
s up with this suffer head Maggi advert? #SheMakesADifference
— Glory Osei (@glory_osei) November 3, 2018
Sheâ€
— �ي يد الله (@SpaceDjango) November 3, 2018
#SheMakesADifference has drawn responses on social media, more valorizing and romanticising of women’s unsupported hard work and people suddenly remembering their mothers. But some have called out the advert’s glamourisation of feminine labour, and rightly so. I do not see Maggi, in the future, adjusting its ethos to reflect our current cultural upheaval because the brand is largely patronised by die-hard conservatives. And Maggi knows this, which is why it continues to cater towards the gendered dynamics that makes it thrive.
Read » The new Maggi advert valorizes women’s suffering and turns them into multitasking machines on YNaija
The new Maggi advert valorizes women’s suffering and turns them into multitasking machines
CLICK HERE TO READ FULL CONTENT
Brought to you by: RIDBAY | WEBSITE DESIGN & DIGITAL MARKETING
