Mumz The Word – My Comedy Playground

Who do I tell… Trevor, Trevor or Don?

Posted on the August 30th, 2010 under Nyeff Nyeff by Mum-z

Cellphone prices in South Africa are actually a joke. I can imagine the MDs and CEOs of cellphone companies meeting each other and jokingly laughing about how they have screwed over the whole country. If you think over every time that you have made a booty call so that you could make love, your cellphone company was making sweet love to your bank account. If you think of every time that you phoned your friends on your birthday, your cellphone company was planning the death of your wallet. Cellphone companies are more than a Monopoly. (Monopoly is a fun game) If I was to think of a game that better describes cellphone providers, I think of Russian Roulette. No matter what company you use, you will end up catching a bullet sooner or later and now, cellphone companies are turning to comedians to make light of the fact that they are so full of (and please excuse my Yiddish) Schidt.

Vodacom were the first to include comedians in there marketing campaigns and did so very successfully. If you can think back to the Vodacom Bushman Advert and the “We’ve Been Having It” advert you can see that humour was one of the main marketing angles that the company used (probably because the CEOs always laughing to the bank). Cell C, who have been struggling of late, turned to Trevor Noah to instill some form of trust within the public due to a recent gig that he had that mentioned how cellphone companies never keep their promises. (Though there are some people who believe that the skit itself may have been part of a more elaborate plan - click here to see link to the article and others believe that there was a lack of creativity in the actual concept of the ad campaign itself and that it showed similarity to another campaign from the states – click here for that article)

I do not find the Cell C advert amusing. Trevor Noah is, undoubtedly, one of South Africa’s funniest stand up comedians and is in a very powerful position where he can become a role model for budding young comics. Is he setting the right kind of examples for young comics by showing other out there that they too must do whatever it takes to make an extra buck? I understand how difficult it is to make money in the entertainment industry (especially in South Africa) but there is a very thin line between success and selling out. On the flip side, Trevor Noah will soon have an obscene amount of money in his bank account which he may re-invest into the growth of the comedy industry (fingers crossed) but none of the actions that he has done of late lead us to think that Cell C’s new C.E.O is committed to growth and development of comedy itself.

Not to get too far away from the topic, why would I phone a comedian to discuss my cell phone provider issues? Did Trevor study engineering? Is he a trained call centre consultant? I recently came accross another South African comedian who is also providing help to cell phone comsumers. Click on this link to see how I would expect a comedian to respond to cell phone queries. (The interesting thing about this site, it that it is actually amusing) Click this link to see the best responses Don Packett has had so far.

Now if I ever have cellular troubles I can Tell Trevor (if I am with Cell C) or I can Tell Don (If I am with MTN). I am with Vodacom, so who am I supposed to call when I have cell phone issues? Trevor Gumbi? (He was the comedian in Vodacom’s “Are you free or are you dom” advert)

The point to be made here is that the presence of comedians and comedy within the cell phone providers marketing campaign only justifies how much of a joke our cellular providers really are. But on the other hand, comedians are being recognized as great marketing tools. However you look at it, whether you have to tell Trevor, Trevor or Don, comedy is the new rock and roll.

To see other related articles:

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Memburn

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Daily Dispatch

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My Jozi

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