By Pascal Oparada
Of course not. That is what the producers of the advert currently running on various Nigerian television stations would tell you.
But a curious look at the advert would tell you that it promotes ‘long throat’ in children. Maybe the producers of the commercials have not thought of it that way.
The plot
A kid is looking morose during lunch hour at school, apparently hungry. His classmate approaches him and asks what is wrong.
“I forgot my lunch box at home”, he answers.
“You can share mine”, the generous classmate replies.
After tasting the Mayonnaise, he becomes hooked.
The following day at school, the kid who forgot his lunch box the previous day comes clutching his own lunch box but also on the lookout for his classmate who was too kind to share his lunch with him the other day.
On sighting his classmate, he hid his lunch box from view.
It is lunchtime. He pretended to be hungry again. The same classmate approaches him with the same question.
“What’s wrong?”
“I forgot my lunch box again”, replied the greedy boy, this time telling a lie.
“Never mind”, his benefactor classmate said. “You can share mine”, and waves over to the school cafeteria.
He grins, apparently showing how successful he is at deceit.
The lessons
No child should be taught to be covetous. No child should be encouraged to desire what is not his. It is against African culture to bring up a child to desire what is not his.
No child should be taught to lie and deceive. He lied by telling his classmate on the second day that he forgot his lunch box when in truth he came with it. And when his classmate offered to share his with him, his smile showed he has mastered the art of deceit.
The producers of the advert unwittingly tell children it is nice to lie, deceive and covet other people’s things.
They tell children it is fine if you decide not share and hoard instead.
Instead of the agency to plot the advert in such a way that after the kid had tasted the Mayonnaise the first day, he would go home and pester the hell out his parents to get him same Mayonnaise, they plotted it in a way as to teach children the opposite of contentment, honesty and generosity.
Aside the positives that the generous kid was kind enough to repeatedly share his meals with his ‘hungry’ classmate, there are not many lessons children – and parents – can take home from the advert other than it teaches children to be liars and covetous.
