By Makiza Micheline Latifa
Russia Today, a global TV news network providing news, current affairs, and documentaries in nine languages available to more than 800 million viewers across the globe has launched a bold new out-of-home (OOH) advertising campaign that drives to the heart of anti-colonialist sentiment across the African continent.
This all important campaign seeks to emphasize RT’s commitment to dismantling neo-colonialist narratives in news media. The campaign dubbed “Your values. shared” includes activations across key business and diplomatic hubs and prominently features world leaders who led various struggles against neo-colonialism and imperialism like Ghana’s first President Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Tanzanian former President and anti-colonial activist, Julius Nyerere, former President of Uganda, Milton Obote, and former President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe.
Other implementations of this campaign include dynamic billboards in Kenya featuring Professor PLO Lumumba which promotes RT International’s newest show ‘Lumumba’s Africa’ hosted by Prof. Lumumba, and aims to explore the most pressing issues in Africa today. The idea behind this show according to RT is to provide a deep and insightful look into critical matters that are still most salient to Africa and many of its nations. On this show, Professor PLO Lumumba takes his audience on a dramatic and educated tale of African issues like economic development, the colonial legacy, the energy, the education and most vividly, the bright hope for the future of Africa itself.
The “Your values. Shared” campaign also features longer-form digital video promos which are currently running in the Addis Ababa airport in Ethiopia, showcasing the breadth and depth of RT’s decades’ long journalistic work on the continent and beyond.
According to Russia Today’s Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Anna Belkina, the quotes of the great African leaders that are being used in this campaign throughout multiple African countries are as relevant today as when the words were first uttered.
“They reflect a vision of Africa that is free from colonial exploitation whether in its traditional, official forms of the past, or the thinly veiled practices of today. Understanding our audience and sharing their values lies at the heart of this 2024 campaign. We want our viewers and readers to know that no matter what, RT’s Africa-centered programming will keep serving them, engaging with their values and, hopefully, inspire them to join the conversation,” Anna said.
Some prominent quotes used in this campaign include the famous quote by Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah that “Neo-colonialism is the worst form of imperialism”, former President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe’s proclamation that “African resources should belong to Africa” and Uganda’s Milton Obote’s vivid declaration that “Independence and Sovereignty cannot be shared.
For RT, colonial legacy can take many forms, and its effects on a nation and its people can last for decades. This is why the words of African leaders of years past about the dangers of neocolonialism, imperialism, exploitation, and about the essential values of liberty, sovereignty and independence are as relevant today as when they were first pronounced. These values are shared by the peoples across the entire continent of Africa.
Today, RT is raising a level of discourse around these values and taking it to its vast international audience with the firm believe that the time for neo-colonialist narratives is over.
This multi-market, anti neocolonialism advertising campaign by RT will run until the end of summer 2024 in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.