By Nzeh Frankwhite
The recent Easter message by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), has been recorded as another Easter gaffe from a major corporate institutions in Nigeria in recent times; from Peak Milk to Sterling Bank, now, and most unfortunately, the FIRS ( a major federal govt agency)
They dropped one controversial PUN Easter message or another, that ended up embarrassing them and their organisation, to which they eventually pulled down and eventually tendered a public apology to Nigerian Christians
In 2022, Sterling Bank used a picture of a loaf of bread to explain their message which states ‘Like Agege Bread he rose from the grave’
The negative reaction that followed was instantaneous before it was pulled down with a public apology
In 2023, Peak Milk came with theirs which read…… with a bruised and perforated tin of Peak milk by the side
And now, in 2024, FIRS came with their own which comes with a photo of a POS machine with the inscription, ‘Jesus has paid your debt, but not your taxes’
With all receiving similar reactions and getting pulled down with a public apology sends a wrong signal of some level of unprofessionalism among the handlers of these briefs
One would wonder why these highly rated organisations with immense resources to hire the best talents in the Nigerian Corporate Marketing & Communications world (both as staff and or consultants), should be falling into these avoidable pitfalls
According to respected author, Doug Larson,
” PUN is the lowest form of humour”
Using PUN in marketing communications is like deciding to squeeze all of the toothpaste out of the tube. Once you do that, it’s will no longer be possible to undo, hence it’s important to be sure before taking such actions
I believe the challenge with some of the handlers of these big organisations may be lack of due diligence in delivering these unassumingly simple, but highly sensitive assignments, if not, I wonder why designs and copies of these magnitude should not be subjected to an inhouse (and possibly, external) process of thorough scrutiny to be double sure that nothing was being left unattended to in adopting the preferred design or copy as the case may be
In a multicultural and multi religious society as ours, such thorough scrutiny remains a fundamental aspect the process
While trying to create humour from a simple design, you end offending the adherents of a particular religion which might end up stirring up religious crisis (then you might now begin to hear silly comments like, it’s because their MD is a Muslim or their DG is Christian), leading to unintended consequences, just from an innocent copy that a little extra caution would have save the whole organisation (and the entire nation), a needless crisis
While reading through the apology by the S A Media to the Chairman of FIRS, I got a point (I was however expecting it)
“The unintended meaning/insinuation being read into the post was not what we were out to communicate as an agency”
That is always the case, leaving us with a simple conclusion, ‘Someone somewhere did not do what he/she ought to have done
There is always a tin line between funny and insensitive, especially when dealing with religion and cultural matters
Each religion festivals carry specific symbolism and rituals which are dear to hearts of it’s adherents, so it beats me why these top corporate institutions will be misusing the death and resurrection of our lord and saviour Jesus Christ while crafting their seasonal messages, does it mean they lack a proper understanding of being the reason for the season or what
A simple Principe in journalism states, ‘If in doubt, leave out’ and I ask, wouldn’t it have been more appropriate for the handlers of the organisations to leave out the use of PUN in crafting their Easter messages, since those that tried in the past has had their hands burnt? Why don’t they fall into similar gaffes in their Christmas messages, you can leave as simple as ‘Christ is the reason for the season, Happy Easter from FIRS, than delving to complicated area of PUN
Finally, following these highlighted series of gaffes and the need to elevate the standards practice in the corporate marketing & communications subsector to acknowledge the capacity and competence of their handlers in corporate Nigeria/MDAs, due diligence should be their guiding principles in future briefs, they should also be circumspect in churning out briefs on sensitive issues like culture, religion, etc.
The use of PUN in creating these concepts should either be completely in designing these briefs or they should multiply their process of scrutinizing and interrogating the concepts while ensuring that leaders of the affected religious institutions are incorporated in the process to eliminated any possible offensive (unintended) innuendos that ends up infuriating the adherents of whatever institutions that are involved
These might just be helpful guidelines that should help eliminate the chances of future embarrassments to their organisations and society, while advancing the corporate integrity of the relevant organisation and the it’s talented corporate marketing and communications team, without doubt, we can do this!
Happy Sallah to all my Muslim brothers and sisters
Nzeh Frankwhite
Abuja based Media Consultant/ Movie Producer
