Tag: Guinness

Before Christianity gained ground in Nigeria, libation was one of such ways our fathers communed with their gods. During family or communal gatherings, elders ensured that wines (especially palm wine) were not drunk to the last drop – the dreg, that thick, rich remains, the condensate from the gourd is often poured out and handed to the oldest man who prays for the community or family as the case may be. Let the land drink, that we may harvest aplenty… let our fathers drink, that it may be well with us…he who wishes his brother dead, let him die first. The maker of heaven and earth, we call upon you seeking atonement, drink that it may be well with us… At each call, a bit of the wine is spilled and the rite of libation is completed when the last dreg is poured forth.

Though our forefathers may well be worshipping the same deity as Christians, the art of libation has almost vanished today. But Guinness stout seems to cast our mind back to it a few days back when the good old alcoholic beverage brand launched its new colour and bottle fineries. Guinness, perhaps the number one stout drink in the world, has brightened its colours and introduced an all-new gold foiling at the bottle tip. This great, new improvement cannot go unheralded and uncelebrated thus Guinness took to the front pages of front-line newspapers (you may also call them national newspapers if you prefer). Apart from being a huge pay day for oft cash-strapped dailies, the front page bold adverts or (sometimes wrapped around cover and back pages) has grown from the unconventional about ten years ago to the norm today.

Hitherto, a splash of advert on the front page of a respectable newspaper was something akin to a taboo. Not because it necessarily diminishes or harms the content but more in deference to the sensibilities of the reader. A blast of advert on the front page of your favourite newspaper is bound to piss you off dear reader (to put it in today’s parlance); but because the invoice is huge and business has to be taken care of, we have in recent years, allowed our newspapers to be wrapped around and even wrapped up by advertiser. In fact not getting wrapped-around along with others may suggest something unsavoury for a big newspaper these days.

But Guinness, Hardball must not fail to note, took the front-page advert splash one notch too banal last Monday when readers woke up to find giant-sized bottle of Guinness stout distorting the front pages of most papers. As if that doesn’t tell the story enough, some papers have the giant bottle suspended at the top of the cover right under the masthead with the dark drink cascading into a glass at the bottom of the paper. Some newspapers were so unwary they had the dark alcoholic beverage cutting through matter on front page like an evil libation.

What on earth is the purpose of pouring a drink across newspaper stories on the front page of a paper? Why would Guinness create such cheap, garish copy and why would a newspaper allow itself to be so cheaply used? What poor, poor copy. Did you have to pour the drink to showcase a new bottle neck foil? No thought is spared for the reader by both the paper and advertiser. These papers are read in homes, churches, mosques, schools and libraries, no thought for the under-aged?

Make no mistake, there is nothing sacrosanct about the positioning of advert in the newspaper anymore, no page is sacred anymore if the price is right; that is the new universal practice. But we still need to look out for our readers and make sure we do not overly squash there sensibilities. A copy must not be designed in a way that it damages the persona of our papers or cheapen the front page; needless to add that a copy for the front page must be cute and smart.