@NoMoozlie & #MonatiWaFela: A Jarring Digital Campaign

Recent SAHHA award winner, Nomuzi Mabena, better known as Moozlie, has been involved in a digital campaign that has received a lot of negative backlash and mixed emotions. On Thursday, January 10, 2019 Rouge, fellow rapper and friend, posted a video of Nomuzi in a car accident to Twitter in a now deleted tweet. The video depicts Nomuzi excitedly speaking of the future, while driving, moments before she hits an object and the phone leaves her hand. The video ends in a frame of a cracked window.

Nomuzi’s fans were distraught, tweeting to find updates of whether or not she had been located. The conversation also began to include some commentary on the importance of not drinking and driving; in addition to not being on your phone while driving. Nevertheless, many were skeptical. Believing the video was a hoax. Some users accused Nomuzi of pulling a publicity stunt. While publicity stunts have been done before, like that of Bontle Modiselle and Priddy Ugly's faux engagement, none have touched the sensitive subject matter of road fatalities.

On Friday, January 11, 2019 the public learned that Nomuzi had partnered with Volkswagen and Drive Dry for this campaign. The video of Nomuzi in a car accident was staged for their #MonatiWaFela campaign. Since this update, public outrage ensued, and spawned #RoastNomuzi.

Fear for the life of a favourited musician often overpowered the purpose of the #MonatiWaFela message. Moreover, to find out the video was a charade, interrupted engagement with the campaign and instead angered the public in various ways. Nomuzi has since explained why she chose to do the campaign, and has been sharing the support she has gotten online with her Twitter followers. At this point, only time and analytics will confirm the success of the campaign. 

Featured image by Austin Malema