Afrotoons

I've always had a soft spot for cartoons, animated or printed. I've got a collection of some french cartoons I discovered when I was studying there. When it comes to comic books Gaston is my favourite. I've created my own character that you see called Ma-Grizza(old lady). The reason she's spelt with two "z"s is simply to amplify her sizzling character. I've been trying to get her published through newspapers and magazines alike but there seem to be no takers. You'll see her in full comic book format sometime in the near future. In the meantime I'll be enjoying Spongebob with my kids, we love him!
We have a way to go before we can have a thriving cartoon culture. It used to be there when I was growing up in the form of photocomic books like Tessa, She, Chunky Charlie etc. That was continued in magazines like Bona which introduced the Bafanas cartoon later on. But I'm glad that we have a strong stand-up comic culture as I believe it'll open up doors for cartoon culture.

The Art of (re)naming

South Africans have a unique way of showing their appreciation for things that they are fond of, things that they interact with on daily basis and ultimately fall in love with. When they really appreciate a product/brand, they baptize it by giving it a name of their own. This is obvious in sports where almost all popular soccer stars have nicknames given to them by supporters/fans, to name just a few: Six Mabone, Computer, 16V, Spiderman, Mokoko, Ngwana wa tshwenya / Troublemaker, Safe Hands, 10111, Slim Kat etc. and the list goes on.

But it doesn’t only end up in sport, products used on daily basis or occasionally that are appreciated have got a fair share in the naming stakes as shown in these samples attached here. This fascination story with brands had to be told, and I have done that the only way I know how: through art. Shown here are examples of some brands that have been converted into works of art as well as t-shirts.

Nowhere in the world have I ever seen such an approval for a brand. This is true ownership, a marketer’s dream, or nightmare!