Mandelaism in Newspaper Advertising that “Pays Tribute” to Mandela after his Death

Abstract

Former South African President, Nelson Mandela’s death in 2013 saw an extraordinary outpouring of local and global grief. This reflected the worldwide iconisation of Mandela as a popular cultural and political symbol for human rights, political messiah-hood, sainthood, dignity, peace and forgiveness. Noting that in his lifetime, even, Mandela attempted to deflect and qualify this iconisation, we present critical views of what we call “Mandelaism” to describe the cultural practices and sign systems that surround and mythologise Mandela. Mandelaism is intermeshed with, feeds into and draws on patriotic sentiments, often invoking notions of magical powers to reconcile racial divisions, to right wrongs of the past and to nation-build. Mandelaism, we notice, is sometimes hijacked by self-serving machinations. Located in the context of the news event that was Mandela’s death and funeral, this aims to recognize self-serving corporate communications which invoke or play on Mandelaism. We do this with reference to selected corporate advertisements that were published in selected national English-language newspapers in the two weeks following his death. Our aim is to thereby address the concern that such corporates endanger democracy as they work to occupy and manipulate, for their own narrow and limited gains, social imaginaries in which nationhood is constructed.

Opsomming

Die dood in 2013 van die voormalige Suid-Afrikaanse President, Nelson Mandela, het gelei tot 'n buitengewone uitstorting van droefheid, nie net plaaslik nie maar wêreldwyd. Dit was 'n weerspieëling van die globale ikonisering van Mandela as simbool vir menseregte, waardigheid, vrede en vergifnis, wat hom tot 'n soort kulturele en politieke heilige en messias verhef het. Ons wys daarop dat Mandela tydens sy leeftyd van hier-die ikonisering probeer wegskram het en dit probeer kwalifiseer het, en bied kritiese beskouings aan van wat ons "Mandelaïsme" noem om die kultuurgebruike en tekensisteme wat Mandela omring en mitologiseer, te beskryf. Mandelaïsme is verweef met, sluit aan by en benut patriotiese sentiment en beroep hom dikwels op nosies van magiese krag om rasseverdelings te heel, die wandade van die verlede reg te stel, en die nasie te bou. Mandelaïsme word egter soms gekaap deur masjinasies wat slegs in eie belang optree. In die konteks van die nuusgebeure van Mandela se dood en begrafnis identifiseer ons die egosentriese korporatiewe kommunikasies wat hulle op Mandelaïsme beroep het of dit uitgebuit het. Ons doen dit met verwysing na 'n aantal korporatiewe advertensies wat in die twee weke ná Mandela se dood in geselekteerde Engelstalige koerante verskyn het. Ons doel is om te ondersoek of sodanige instansies ons demokrasie in gevaar stel deur in eie belang die sosiale denkbeeld waarbinne nasieskap gebou word, te manipuleer en uit te buit.