Imagine, a Kate Henshaw, Simi, Praiz, Toni Kan and a few other Nigerian social currency figures filing a class action against a young agency. These headliners in their different spheres of influence felt the 7even Interactive erred by using their images as models to advertise a brand to the public without as much as obtaining their consents. Will you blame these stars?
This is exactly the offence purportedly committed by 7even Interactive, an Ikeja based agency which recently used Kate Henshaw and others as models for its ‘Frixion’ Vodka brand without their consent.
“Some threatened to file law suits against the agency, such is the risk we took for this campaign” confirmed an agency source. What is Frixion by the way and what does 7even Interactive want to achieve? You may wonder!
The well concocted images of the ‘ads’ are still trending on social media with the ‘models’ caressing, showing love and affinity to the brand. These sufficiently got the opinion leaders and influencers agitated and annoyed. To assuage their frayed nerves, the agency followed up with individual letters of apology for using their images in the media without their ‘consent’. The typical letter reads:
Dear Kate,
We have used your name, image and social cred without your consent and for this we apologise. Our violation has taken an emotionally, psychological and physical toll on you, and you have every right to be angry. We appreciate the fact that you did not give this assault the silent treatment; you voiced your outrage and asked that justice be served. The Frixion brand is a phantom brand created to shine the light on a grave social evil that we are lending our voice against – RAPE. Our objective is to create awareness as well as recruit supporters for this fight against RAPE by publicly demonstrating RAPE on a platform where we can reach millions of Nigerians at once. By using your social cred without your consent, we “socially RAPEd” you and got the public to voice their distaste. We hope that these individuals can be converted as supporters for the fight against RAPE.
We apologise for any inconvenience that our antics have caused you. We hope that you understand that we appreciate and respect your social cred, which is why we chose to use you to further our goals. Again, we apologise for any trouble we have caused you. We however have one favour to ask you: please support the cause by posting this mail and this attached image on your social media platform and encourage your followers to support the cause. Together, we can inspire Nigerians to say NO to RAPE, and #YesToConsent.
Warm Regards,
7even Interactive.
The letter done, the “culprit’s” intent became clear. The agency objective is to “raise awareness for rape by reenacting it on a social platform. The easiest way to define rape is sex without consent, the key word being without consent” says Taiwo Agboola, COO, 7even Interactive. As its social contribution, the agency schemes to get people, especially those that matter in social circles to discuss the 4-letter word – Rape which has become a commonplace social ill which the society often sweep under the carpet, he added.
The agency’s logic is, if Kate et al could be furious about using their pictures in a ‘commercial’ without consent, then RAPE as an offence should be dealt with in more strict terms by all and sundry, Agboola pointed out.
Gauging the comments and talk value the campaign has generated on the social media, the agency might be right afterall in its decision to
contribute to the on-going conversation to curb the evils perpetrators and their fans often try so hard to justify. “With the frixion campaign, we were able to demonstrate the importance of consent and encourage people to speak up against this immoral and inhumane act”, he confirmed.
To vent their passion to raise awareness about the social ill called RAPE, Ndukwe Onuoha, Creative Director, 7even Interactive explained that the agency had to dream up the “Frixion” Vodka brand. “It’s a fictional brand. No brand is called Frixion, we did this to be able to push our idea without any commercial baggage. It is a social cause and we are pushing it as such” We believe it’s a worthy cause for the good of the society and human race generally that’s we are deploying resources at our disposal including our friends to bring about the needed social change.
Apart from the ‘Frixion Vodka teaser Ad that got the stars jumped out of their hiding places, the agency has also unveil a set of online materials that deflate some of the reasons advanced for the causes of the misdemeanour . Some of the messages on the banners include “What did you think I meant when I asked you to come over”; If you really didn’t want it, why did you dress like that” etc. However, one overriding message on all the copies that drills down the campaign says “There is never an excuse for RAPE” The campaign message is trending under hashtag #YESTOCONSENT.
“We hope that Frixion campaign will educate and sensitize the public on importance of consent during sexual encounters as well as encourage people to speak up against this immoral and inhumane act. To all rape victims out there, we care and we are speaking out for you”, says the COO.
Thumb-up guys for support a most humiliating and deflating experience which are often not discussed beciause of the social stigma. Leading a convesation like this says a lot about the milk of human kindness in the leadership of the team. -Kudos. {fcomments}