Don't Africa Me author faults Holiday Inn ad

From challenging China’s CCTV9 Culture Express host, Jennifer Hsuing, for calling Africa the “Dark Continent” in October 2007 to successfully getting Assemblies of God World Missions to remove the phrase “galavanting across the ocean to the Dark Continent” from its TalkingDrumsAfrica.org website in January 2008, Don’t Africa Me author, C. Paschal Eze, has continued to confront individuals and organizations he accuses of waging spirited geo-branding war on the African continent and thus hurting its vulnerable trade and tourism.

This time, Eze has turned his attention to hotel giant Holiday Inn for its Africa denigrating TV ad that says “My uncle was eaten by an alligator on a trip to Africa,” condemning the ad as part of the well coordinated and sustained scare tactics that make investors, importers and tourists turn away from African countries and undermine livelihoods, growth and development across the continent.

“This kind of stigmatization and the scornful TV images that go with it, paint the African continent as up to no good thus ensuring that many people do not think of lovely African destinations like Ghana and Gambia when they need a memorable holiday or African manufacturers and distributors when they need quality goods, and I believe they should no longer go unchallenged,” contends Eze whose sixth book, Don’t Africa Me: “Their” geo-branding war, “Our” trade, tourism wounds, and Winning like China not only shows how the culture of negative characterization of Africa stifles growth and development on the continent but also how African countries like Nigeria and Kenya can emulate the once dreaded “communist” China in re-branding themselves.

Eze admits that such characterization has not been the exclusive preserve of better-than-thou corporate media that only show carefully shot images of Nigerian and Kenyan slums and scavengers versus those of Chinese factories, high rise buildings and boulevards. It has also emanated from black immigrants who threaten to send their disobedient children back to Africa thus breeding a generation of blacks indifferent to African countries, global NGOs that denigrate Africa to get sometimes misused donations, and Hollywood celebrities exploiting Africa to re-brand themselves and expand their fortunes.

“Holiday Inn should pull that ad immediately and apologize to the 54 African countries hurt by such a disingenuous ad,” demanded Eze, a former daily newspaper and monthly business magazine editor-in-chief who runs his own business in Coralville Iowa.

For more information on C. Paschal Eze, visit www.paschalezemedia.com or call Shanita Michelle at 1-319-936-6140.

Shanita Michelle
Expertz in Print
P.O.Box 5145 Coralville Iowa 52241
http://www.paschalezemedia.com

Coralville Iowa-based Expertz in Print gives voice in print to experts.

This release was published on openPR.