Lives lost, Lesson learned,actions served#SayNoToXenophobia

Group of looters breaking into a foreign-store in 
Soweto

Xenophobia is an unreasonable dislike of people who come from other countries and are referred to as foreigners.The movement started in Soweto and took everyone by surprise. Xenophobic attacks were caused by some residents in Soweto who claimed that Somalians steal their local businesses and become rich from their own pockets. The movement became even worse after KingZwelithini's speech.The hashtag became very popular on social media platforms, especially on twitter. positive and negative responses were received.

.

Minister of sports and recreation; Fikile Mbalula
Minister of arts and culture: Nathi Mthetwa
wearing their tshirts to show solidarity

Positive results of the #SayNoToXenophobia

This hashtag created a lot of controversy through social media platforms like twitter and Facebook to be specific. It also allowed the hashtag to be word widely recognized. People got a chance to voice out their opinions. They got updated about the news as they were happening. To name but a few impacts that were created by the hashtag: South Africans took a stand by posting their pictures on instagram titled #WeAreOne, South African musical artists like Donald, Moneoa, Jabu Hlongwane and other musicians like Patoranking from Nigeria and many more took their time and collaborated to a song called "we are the world" to show our brothers and sisters from other countries that we are united. 

Music speaks volumes,when worlds leave you speechless !

The following video shows how public relations practitioners have brought the spirit of oneness to our attention  as to how working together can benefit us if we put our differences aside

The brutal attack of Emmanuel Sithole in Alexandra township

How the hashtag was disadvantaged from the use of social media:

The hashtag also had a negative impact as some of the people were slaughtered like animals while some some were burnt into ashes. what a slow painful death. Among them was  Emmanuel Sithole who was stabbed to death by Mthinta Bhengu and  Sifundi Mzimela from Alexandra township in Johannesburg on the 18 of April 2015. On his wrist, was found 3 armbands which read like this "united for bafana", this shows how much he loved this country. unfortunately he couldn't live long to embrace the beauty of it.

Brands that stoop up against xenophobic attacks:

The UJ executive against xenophobia

Brands like MTN radio awards , South African football association and premier soccer league as well as University of Johannesburg stood up against xenophobic attacks to show solidarity by doing so they created positive PR  and awareness for the organisation as a whole.They reflected an internal emotional commitment to the brand as well as brand creation preference.

I think social media created awareness for almost everyone. With it, people were able to get get newsworthy information and it also allowed everyone to interact with who ever they want at any time of the day throughout the world.

All Lives Matter #BlackLivesMatter

Black lives matter is a state movement in which black people are seen as 'nobody"to white supremacy. many people were involved in the movement fighting for black liberation and equality. The #BlackLivesMatter became a huge success, I mean from the streets to social media and so on. The use of hashtags benefited people a lot, since they were getting updates straight to their phones instead of buying news papers and listening to radio all the time. Even with the use of social media there were things that worked to the media's advantage and some did not.

Favorable deeds that benefited the #BlackLivesMatter

American drama series called empire  featured a scene based on black lives matter on its season 2 series to show unity and harmony. Just to add on that Beyonce who happens to be everyone's fan also performed her new single "formation" at the super bowl.The song is basically about black women resisting to state violence and has people who make a black power salute sign at the end of the music video as an indication of support towards the black lives matter movement. The designers, artists and cultural workers offered their love and labor to expand the #BlackLivesMatter beyond a social media hashtag that also worked in their favor to build a brand positioning through associative imagery.

Upsetting moments                                                                                          

The were too many people who were exposed to violence. They   were murdered, kicked and insulted. Tryvon Martin is one of the people who was shoot dead during the black lives matter movement at his father's house. Some ended up in jail 
 like Marissa Johnson who is one of the people who joined the activists that established black lives matter movement.


Advantages of brands for reacting to the state movement

Brands like Apen took their time to support the movement and gained brand awareness for themselves.Google also donated 500, 000 to black lives matter and gained fabricated positive PR and go as corporate friendliness that advances great relations with customers not to forget the billboards from Davis Insurance Agency (DIA) who's aim was to also show solidarity to the movement. 

As a public relations practitioner I believe that social media makes life easy for everyone. It is an extraordinary source of information that unites individuals, furthermore it empowers them to fulfill certain goals.

You can't go back and change the past, but you're determined to change the future,
let's unite against racism, sexism and brutality
OneLove !
photo creds: Faith Mathole