ADVERTS GONE BAD

I was watching Vitimbi on KBC last night. They haven't lost much of their act but when Mama Kayai the veritable Matriarch doesn't make an appearance in whole episode, one feels short-changed. At least thats what i feel. With Mwala poached by Citizen, the Mogaka fellow has quite some big shoes to fill into and his efforts to ape ace comedian Nyambane falls flat! But thats comedy for us in Kenya. But i digress.

I have beef, what or who to direct it at is the problem. The programme producer or the advertisers, am lost.

For the keen observers like this blogger(but do i say), the cameraman focus was last night taken from the actors and directed to the programme sponsors' products in the setting. The first time i noted ws when the cameraman zoomed on the wall clock in Mwende's house which is a 'Postal Directories - Yellow Pages' souvenir.

The second time was in Ojwang's restaurant where the cameraman again zoomed on the Royco container for close to 10 seconds!

Am not sure if there is a logical explanation to this but it shows how unprofessional the production department can be at times. Also, the advertising house which handles the accounts for Royco and Postel Directories serioUsly need some advise on advertisement placements especially so if the products are being used by a cast like Vitimbi. By doint it the way the did it yesterday, it cheapens a rather well thought out story.

But thats KBC for us, instead of watching the programmes, we watch the adverts and view the adverts instead of the other way round! How do you fix 8-15 adverts in a 20-30min programme?