Nikon South Africa is facing backlash for deliberately using ‘outrage marketing’ to promote engagement and reach on a new product line.
Nikon SA ad sparks black outrage
The imaging brand recently launched the brand new Z50, along with a team of influencers which include Pieter Buckle, Nicole Capper and revered photographer Austin Malema, and others.
The video sparked outrage after it was noticed how:
a) there was no diversity in the selection of influencers; and
b) how Malema only made a one-second cameo appearance in the video.
In a country as racially sensitive as South Africa is, messaging of this nature from a reputable brand often draws ire from social media, a virtual space ruled by cancel culture.
Was this an instance of outrage marketing?
However, what if this was the intention all along? Many disgruntled social media users pointed to this as the only logical reason to why Nikon SA greenlit this tone-deaf promotional video.
Since the infamous H&M and Gucci epic blunders, marketing firms have found value in outrage — or shock — marketing.
Outrage marketing is a highly emotive strategy that plays on our heartstrings. Marketing firms use strong reactionary tactics to draw high levels of polarising engagement on a product. The end-goal is to attract brand advocates and achieve high conversions, at the cost of widening the lines of segregation.
More significant, according to The Signal, the true value in engagement and conversion comes from black outrage.
Nikon SA may or may not have known that by editing Malema out of the promo video, they would pull at the emotional strings of black people on social media.
The subliminal messaging was clear to many people who saw the video. However, Nikon SA and, in fact, Malema has yet to address the matter.
“By now, it should be more clear than ever that today’s marketing teams are playing on our emotions, in particular, our outrage. My suggestion is simple, don’t feed into controversial advertisements until you have all the information needed to form your own conclusions. Otherwise, you’re just putting more money in somebody else’s pockets.
The Georgia Signal, Digital Editor”