Victor Koaho, IMC Lead at The MediaShop, says Covid-19 fatigue is real, but marketers are still responsible for their brands. With the lockdown regulations being relaxed since 16th September 2020, people have come out in numbers to be active and continue with their lives.
It seems that consumers have forgotten about the pandemic, and those who were complaining about their businesses being impacted are already operating as if there was never a pandemic to begin with. Consumers are visiting places of entertainment without observing the basics of social distancing, wearing masks or sanitising. People have been arrested leaving places of entertainment on weekends around 02h00 in the morning as opposed to closing at 24h00 midnight.
At the beginning of September, we saw club owners, promoters and musicians take to the streets of Johannesburg and Durban, stressing that they had not worked in six months and it was proving to be difficult to provide for their families. The interesting thing is that it is these very same owners, promoters, and musicians who were complaining about how their income had been impacted who are now flouting the law, but as marketers and brands we are equally to blame, as we associate our brands with these activities without putting measures in place to ensure that these festivities adhere to the current regulations that are put in place.
Towards the end of November, brands and distributors will be talking about Black Friday and encouraging consumers to participate in getting products and brands at a cost-effective rate from their nearest stores. Knowing how South Africans respond to sales, this day could become a nightmare to manage with potentially thousands of people not adhering to social distancing regulations.
So the responsibility to ensure that we do not get back to level 3 or 4 is upon us as marketers to keep reminding the companies that distribute our brands and their respective consumers that we are still under lockdown regulations and should behave. Let us not be reckless, because this could have more devastating effects on our economy, which will also result in brands losing out on further valuable revenue.
