The Sounds Are Clear, But The Sights?

Thanks to the sterling performance of our Black Stars many people have now started looking for where Ghana is on the world map. It is therefore such a wonderful feeling to tune in now to perhaps the world’s most popular TV channel, the CNN, and see some beautiful sights of Ghana with still more beautiful Ghanaian sounds in the background. For the timing alone, I salute “Areeba” for their promotion of the country on CNN’s “Sights & Sounds”. Perhaps it would have been still nicer if the background music, representing the ‘sounds’, had been from exotic Ghanaian instruments rather than from the piano. But that’s just a small matter.

Perhaps you need to be resident outside the country to have the feeling some of us have when we see the Ghana flag or hear the Anthem. Obviously if you hear it not more than once in a year it sounds different from if you hear it everyday. And even among the expatriate Ghanaians I believe those in countries like the U.S. and Britain, for example, have a closer feel of Ghana in their normal day-to-day lives than those of us in a country like Switzerland where you are much more likely to read press reports about the ‘problems’ in Cote d’Ivoire than the peace and tranquillity in our country. In fact on a visit to some particular areas in New York City and London in particular I encountered more Ghanaian shoppers and traders, and saw more Ghanaian articles and food in a day than I do in a year in Switzerland. I therefore believe that that the feeling of pride and excitement I had the first time I saw a Ghana Black Stars jersey among the more popular ones like the Brazilian, Italian and French in a sports shop was more intense than I would have felt if I was living in another country.

I believe I’m not the only one who had seen the “Sights & Sounds” clips of countries like Malaysia, Egypt, and Cyprus before the one for Ghana started appearing on CNN. I have been to Malaysia and Egypt before and seen the countries as they. However, whenever I have seen the adverts of these countries on CNN I have felt the urge to go back there. On the other hand there is no doubt on my mind that if I were a non-Ghanaian and my first introduction to the country was the “Sights & Sounds” clip on CNN, I would not have been attracted one bit to visit the country.

While commending Areeba for their commendable effort to promote the country I also wish to say, with all due respect, that they could have done much better than this. Before going any further, let me acknowledge that I’m aware that Areeba may not have been directly involved in the production but are only the sponsors. Any criticism I have for the clip therefore, is directed at the producers and not the sponsors.

Not The Content, But the Production

I have no problems with the choice of locations and activities in the clip but I think the quality of the pictures leaves so much to be desired. In short, as compared to all others I’ve seen on CNN I can say that the quality of our own “Sights & Sounds” is very much below standard. I do not believe these clips are made just for the sake of it. They are shown for the purpose of marketing their respective countries. Therefore, unless they can be made attractive enough to make the country appealing to the outside world it may even be better if we do not show anything at all. In fact we run the risk of putting people off from visiting our beautiful country if we advertise ourselves so poorly to them.

I have one comment to make on the effect of the Cape Coast or Elmina Castle as captured on the clip. In spite of their huge historical and cultural significance it has to be noted that without being clearly labelled as former slave castles the structures would not on their own be seen by outsiders as the tourist attractions we know them to be. I would therefore suggest that whenever they are presented in short video clips in future they should be clearly labelled.

Does Anything Always Go?

Unfortunately, for so long, we appear to have cultivated a culture which makes us believe anything you offer will be accepted no matter how it is presented. We may have cultivated this culture during the days when there was scarcity of everything under the sun in our country. In those ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ days you dared not complain about anything or you would be quickly reminded of how lucky you are to have found what you wanted in the first place. Thankfully that era is past and gone but somehow we haven’t managed to shake off that culture. Perhaps the earlier we did away with it the better for us in this highly competitive world. We need to bear in mind that whatever we have to offer as tourist attractions other countries also have. Before we can expect to compete effectively with them therefore, we need to present ourselves at the same level at which others present themselves.

I chose to react to this “Sights & Sounds” clip not because it is the first or only poorly produced promotional document from Ghana I have ever seen. I have seen many over the years, but I decided to react to this because I believe it would do the country a lot of good to point some of these issues out to those responsible for their production.

I have seen a copy of the official “Republic of Ghana” 2006 Calendar produced by the Information Services Department and I find it difficult to understand how at that level we could produce this document which is usually meant for distribution to businesses, diplomatic missions in Ghana, as well as Ghana missions abroad, for the purpose of promoting the country. The picture quality of most of the photos is such that either they were captured with an amateur camera or they were printed by an amateur printer. You see a picture of displayed fruits and you wonder whether they are oranges or mangoes. There is also a picture of our Parliament in session and you have to know the members very well personally before you may be able to identify any. It would be an entirely different matter if this was a calendar produced for sale on the roadside by some amateur photographer using a flash-deficient amateur camera. But what I’m talking about is the official calendar (decorated with the Coat of Arms) produced for distribution by the most competent government agency for the purpose – The Information Services Department.

Others Do Care About Quality

I recall that some years ago, I returned from home with photos of some beautiful locations of the country which I decided to produce into Post Cards. I forwarded them to a company in Switzerland which produces Post Cards and other promotion materials. They wrote back to tell me that unfortunately my pictures were not good enough for commercial production of Post Cards. To make their point clearer to me they sent me several copies of Post Cards produced by them and the printed copies of how my own pictures would look like as Post Cards. In the end I accepted the company’s advice and agreed not to produce poor quality Post Cards even though I was convinced that my own poor quality ones were much better than most of what was available on the market at the time. So why did the company not just do the job for me and charge me for their job? They did not want to be associated with a poor job!

Over the years technology and technical know-how have become so readily available the world over that for those who really care for quality it is quite easy for some small company in some remote part of Ghana to come out with a product which would look as good as any produced anywhere.

But let me make it clear at this stage that I’m not suggesting we should design and manufacture our own machines to produce presentable documents. What I mean is that the technology is already available to all of us. Gone now are the days when while “they” were using computers to produce documents “we” were using “Imperial 70” manual typewriters with faded ribbons. Nowadays, not only Business Executives in Europe have access to mobile phones that can be used to access the Internet, school children and market women in Ghana also have them. Not only large multi-nationals, but also small businesses and even private homes in Ghana, have access to “Pentium IV” and colour printers that can print digital pictures at near professional quality. How come then that till this day you see a Marriage Certificate and other similar documents from Ghana and you wonder in which century there were issued?

Perhaps somebody somewhere doesn’t see and needs to be told. Or perhaps somebody somewhere doesn’t care and needs to be told to care. In conclusion, I wish to say that while the “Sounds” of Ghana being played on CNN are clear enough the “Sights” are too blurred to attract foreign tourist and business people.