Last year my friend told me of how he was humiliated by a Generations actor when he bumped into him in a shopping mall somewhere here in Joburg! Coming from the countryside, the dude could not believe his eyes when he saw this celeb hunk and wasted no time to go and give him a hearty handshake! Oops, to his disappointment the guy declined and said "Keep it cool, broer; I'm just like you," and my friend was grilled by giggles from on-lookers who knew better.
I think this is not the way to go if the Mzanzi TV industry is to grow to its full maturity; even though I have virtually no knowledge about marketing; I want to believe that endorsements and sponsorships for and by our celebrities will be determined by how they relate behave towards us as their admirers.
While I don't like unprofessional swagger of some celebs; it's high time our celebrities stop pretenting they are just like our neighbours next door; the fact is they are not! I think its a pity that despite having met so many South African celebrities; I am yet to have an autographed item by Connie or Sello Maake ka-Ncube or Thabiso Mokhethi and our former Golden Boy, Zola as well as of many others!
I think this calls into question the PR (public relations) by our TV stars. Majority of our celebrities do not have channels of communications between themselves and their fans and even during the Facebook/Twitter era its still a hassle to communicate with some of our stars. I am still awaiting Facebook friendship confirmations from a host of my favourite actors and actresses ranging from Jo-Anne Reyneke (Pearl) Muvhango to Sophie Ndaba (Queen Moroka) Generations!
I hope I am not expecting too much! Am I?