Founding President of the UP Tradition Institute, Razak Kojo Opoku (PhD), has, in an article, indicated that the popularity of a product does not correlate with its acceptability.
In his article below, copied to the Ghana Eye Report on Sunday, he advances cogent and compelling arguments to that effect.
There are several instances where the Most Marketed Product does not sell.
Commercially, there are several examples of “Most Marketed-Product Failures”; however, for the purpose of this article, let me just give ten (10) examples:
- Kasapa Mobile Telecommunication Company’s operations in Ghana.
- Glo Mobile Telecommunication Company’s operations in Ghana
- Google Glass
- Apple Newton
- Satisfries
- Microsoft Zune
- Nokia
- Motorola
- Crystal Pepsi
- HP TouchPad
When it comes to politics, some ‘products’ or persons who were well marketed but could not translate their popularity into votes(Product Failures) include;
- Raila Odinga of Kenya
- Atiku Abubakar of Nigeria
- Morgan Richard Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe
- Anthony James Leon of South Africa
- Julius Malema of South Africa
- Omoyele Yele Sowore of Nigeria
- Maurice Kamto of Cameroon
- Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu (also known as Bobi Wine) of Uganda
- Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon of South Sudan
- Martin Madidi Fayulu of the Democratic Republic of Congo
- Diane Rwigara of Rwanda
- Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (also known as Al Gore) of the United States of America
- Hillary Clinton of the United States of America
- Kamala Harris of the United States of America
- Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya of Belarus
- Syarhei Tsikhanouskaya of Belarus
- Marion Anne Perrine “Marine” Le Pen of France.
- Muhammadu Buhari contested in the Nigerian presidential elections four times before becoming President.
In our Ghanaian electoral environment, these people and others not mentioned here have been on the ballot several times, yet received little to no acceptance from the Ghanaian voters. They are;
- Edward Mahama of PNC
- Thomas Nuako Ward-Brew
- Dr. J. B. Danquah of UGCC/UP
- Paa Kwesi Nduom
I would like to end here by stressing that being the Most Marketed does not and may not always end in voter acceptability.
The “Voters’ Psychology” can easily make nonsense of the “Most Marketed” slogan during general elections.
Issued by: Razak Kojo Opoku (PhD)
UP Tradition Institute
