Open Letter to Coca-Cola Ethiopia

   

Xavier Selga
Managing Director
Coca-Cola Beverages Africa - East Africa Bottling S.C.

Dear Mr. Selga,

I write to you regarding your recent sponsorship of a select group of artists from Ethiopia to participate in Coca-Cola’s flagship African music show, Coke Studio Africa. For the first time this year, the show featured five performing artists from Ethiopia and that's a good thing.

Whereas your efforts to open doors for Ethiopian artists to perform on the continental stage is appreciable, your failure to make the composition of the group more diverse is very disappointing. In a November 2 interview with EBS television, the Coca-Cola Ethiopia Brand Manager stated that the decision on who to send to the show was made by her and people in her circle, and that the group reflected “balance in terms of the background of the artists.” 

However, this could not be further from the truth. It is a selection that completely disregards Ethiopia’s linguistic and cultural abundance and diversity. In particular, I would like to make clear my disappointment that not a single Afaan Oromo singer was afforded the opportunity to be part of the group that traveled to Nairobi to perform/collaborate with other African as well as international artists. To begin with, the lack of a certain level of diversity amongst the selectees runs counter to Coke Studio Africa’s mission of “showcasing the diversity of African musical talent.” For the show to truly reflect African diversity, the linguistic and cultural variations at the country level needed to be given consideration in the selection process. You limited the diversity to music genre.   

It seems that you also need reminding of the fact that Oromia is home to 35-40% of Ethiopia’s population and is a state where your largest consumer base is located. From a marketing strategy point of view, to completely ignore the musical flavors from this base and the relevance of its artists appears to be completely irrational. While I hold no ill will towards those selected to feature on the show, I do not see it fit for a major international brand such as Coca Cola to lack proper judgment and only target a dominant musical culture- linguistically speaking -when promoting artists and contributing to artistic development. It’s even more astonishing when the sections of society whose music you fail to recognize and appreciate are the same that you mainly market your products to.  

Coca-Cola Ethiopia needs to realize that such decisions to promote artists that perform only in a particular language can have far reaching implications for up-and-coming artists from historically less represented linguistic and cultural groups. The flawed method with which you reward talent has the potential to make young artists steer away from their musical roots or to discourage them from pursuing music altogether. I therefore ask you to stop slanting the playing field even further against these artists. That’s not an outcome Coke Studio Africa would want to see.  

Sincerely,
Michael