Have you noticed the increasing amount of nudity on the covers of our Movies? I must confess that this title is slightly misleading as in most of the cases I will present to you the trend is more towards scantily clad women, some making crude gestures; as opposed to full on nakedness, however I have noticed many Africans use nude and naked to mean half dressed, hence the title of this post.
What I am wondering on nollywoodforever.com is what is up with these covers in Nollywood? They were hardly masterpieces to begin with but now things have disintegrated to the point where I go and buy my stash and if someone that was not a very close friend wanted to see what I had bought I may well just refuse. Why would I refuse you may ask? Well let me tell you point blank; I am embarrassed. Movie covers nowadays are looking like soft porn.
As far as I can see the nudity featured on the front of African movies is not necessary to convey the essence of the movie contained within, neither is it artistic or beautifully shot. So why is it there? Well that is the question that I too am asking. When these covers are being designed what do they have in mind? Is it to shock? To titillate? Or is it as simple as the fact that SEX supposedly SELLS?
From my limited observations it would appear to me that Nollywood’s primary consumers are FEMALE. I’m sure male addicts exist but all the Nollywood addicts that I know are females. All the people I know that buy movies en masse are females too. In fact all the males I know that watch Nollywood movies watch other people’s copies or catch them on TV. Guys that do buy movies (I see them at the stall where I buy them) buy one or two and not a whole load like a lot of women do, so how does it make sense to target half naked images to women? We don’t want to see that shit.
With that in mind I must ask again. What is the purpose of throwing all these naked and scantily clad women and sometimes men (My Soul Mate and Strange Act) on the covers of African Movies? These images are not going to make women feel an impulse toward buying the movie so what is the marketing strategy behind this trend of late?
I can’t answer the question. The most I can come up with is that certain marketers saw the controversy the sex in Ghanaian movies was causing and wanted to emulate that controversy? Outside that I am baffled. Maybe one of you can come up with another answer for me. Now let me show you some of the covers that I am referring to:
Movies – Cover Analysis
Strange Act is a movie about spirits and a haunted house. You wouldn’t think that from the cover would you? I feel sorry for Yemi and the actress that is posing for this cover with him because I’m sure they would not want their images used in this way. What is the point of this cover? It has nothing at all to do with the story. This image comes from a part at the beginning of the movie where Yemi is caught in bed with another woman by his wife. This is by no means a focal point of the story.
On the cover of Cruz we see Uche Ogbodo looking like a wanton woman, mouth ajar and grabbing her crotch. My first thought on seeing this was, WTF? Granted she was a wanton woman in the movie but what do we need to see her grabbing her crotch for?
Mansion Models repackaged as Fulton Mansion is the worst cover for me. Now wtf is going on here? We see Eve Esin legs akimbo, grabbing her breast and rubbing her crotch. Would you believe that this movie is about some girls training to compete in Miss Nigeria? Miss Nigeria? Can you imagine? Look at the state of them? More like Nigeria’s Next Top Ashewo. The movie is in fact almost as smutty as the cover. There was lots of half naked perambulating with some lesbian clinching thrown into the mix. The movie is a hot mess. I was so surprised that Stephanie Okereke even agreed to be a part of this.
Mind Game repackaged as Sexy Game tried to get in on the whole sex thing by renaming the movie Sexy Game. What for now? Were there any sexy games in the movie? Which kind nonsense be this? Your husband is cheating on you with a man. Oooooh how sexy! Look at Omotola on the cover of the movie. There is not one part of the movie where she wore daisy dukes or exposed her midriff like so. So why put it on the cover like that? That plus calling the movie Sexy Game is blatantly fraudulent. Look closely and you will even see that Omotola’s head has even been photoshopped onto another body. Shocking!
My Soul Mate was the last movie I watched in my latest stash. I left it until last because I was so put off by the movie cover that I kept avoiding watching it. I finally watched it and was surprised that I actually enjoyed the movie. It was alright. They chose images of Mercy, Van and Angela at the times in the movie when they have the least clothes on. You wouldn’t think that the movie was about a mother who gave up her daughter for adoption who then years later sets out to find her would you? They have taken a picture of Mercy and Angela from separate unrelated swimming scenes in the movie and thrown them on the cover to give the illusion of a lot of nudity in the movie.
So there is my selection. What do you think about this influx of nudity on our movie covers?
Source:
Nudity On African Movie Covers on nollywoodforever.com
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MADNESSSSSSSSSSS.
RIDUNCULOUS.
Poor Omotola.Thank God I don’t do films esp Nollywood.
Like u were in my head..i’ve noticed the trend too and it is really disturbing..kids see these posters here n there too and are certain to be affected..i saw one poster recently titled Adam’s desire..the nudity on it was the kind i’ve never seen.check it out?nice article though!
Oooh funny I just saw that movie cover… Looks like the advertisement for a brothel.
What else do you expect? Its Nollywood, with emphasis on the N[igeria] I’ve given up trying to understand why we do certain things in this country.
Last Nigerian movie me watched was Ije and this one that had Ramsey and Nse and the guy that looks looks like Ramsey’s brother. Don’t get to see lotta posters so kinda surprised at this new trend. But if it’s selling the movie, then that’s okay. Boys like porn, so maybe they’re targeting make audience. It’s better to watch a good film with a bad packet than a bad film with a good packet poco a poco the comment you made. Looking forward to seeing Anchor Baby. Mostly watch only recommended movies now. That’s maybe why articles like yours are very helpful. Nollywood surely needs to up their trailer and poster games.
The face remains that women are the more loyal customers of Nollywood so they are truly barking up the wrong tree there.
Abeg its the wrong tree they are backing up, jare…
Well, this is Nigeria and anything can happen….I guess we can’t change the way we view change out here….It is well….
I really cannot understand why we only copy bad things.
We always want to be more American than the Americans and more English that the English.
I guess it shows how shallow those involved really are?!
It makes no sense, really. SMH.
This “latest trend” makes absolutely no sense to me! All of a sudden, nudity is all we see everywhere all in the name of acting, what a shame!
I too see no reason why the cover is entirely different from the movie content; it is entirely dicordant. But the point is, Nigerians are very shrewd folks actually, I am sure that there is a reason behind this which is most likely a weird but fascinating “marketing strategy” – The approach might be wrong but as Jaywriter highlighted, boys like pornos. An attractive cover becomes a bait, captivating to the eye, they want to see what’s in it.
Just one the reasons why I don’t watch Nollywood movies…that and the same old nature of their stories…Nice one…
I agree with Jaywriter..i think the entire nudity strategy is aimed at making Nigerian films more appealing to men..as if they don’t have a lucrative market already with the number of women who watch them!
Personally,i don’t watch Nigerian movies cause i believe that they are full of trash and hardly have a worthy nugget of wisdom to offer…I think the industry is just going from bad to worse with this new trend..it’s sad really..Nolly wood has so much potential.
I like that you just don’t watch these movies but also offer insightful criticisms on them.Keep up the good work..
I f these producers/marketers want to copy Ghanaians i pity them and their marketing strategy.Let one of this fire and brimstone preachers with a large following catch them 1st, rumor afta rumor and then they will fill the effects, porn is not just our tradition…
The dudes in Nollywood are unimaginative. Period. The way they are going, even porn no go sell for their hands. Thank goodness some pros are coming up with stuff like TANGO WITH ME. I pity our thespians who might not know how they are being misrepresented on those jackets and billboards. Even if it is sex from scene one to the end put some art, not arse, to it!
there,s no need complaining about nollywood.they don’t(and will never) listen.i will not waste my “eye” watching nollywood films.if i have nothing to do,sleep is a good option.they produce films as if they make them for imbeciles.i can’t waste my money on anything that will make me complain.
WHEN YOU TRY TO BE LIKE SOMEONE ELSE YOU SHOW THAT YOU ARE UNGRATEFUL TO YOUR MAKER- NOLLYWOOD PRODUCERS SHOULD STEP UP THEIR ACT IN WHATEVER THEY WANT TO DO OR ADD TO MAKE THEIR FILMS INTERESTING AND APPEALING. MOST TIMES TRYING TO COPY LEAVES US LOOKING STUPID AND NAIVE- I BELIEVE NOLLYWOOD IS GETTING BETTER.
NOLLYWOOD IS JUST TRYING TO CATCH UP WITH THE JONESES OF HOLLYWOOD- I DON’T NUDITY SELLS MOVIES- COMMON NOLLYWOOD GET US SOMETHING MORE EDUCATIONAL.
Nonsense! That is what is behind the trend. More fundamentally, someone said “if anything can go wrong, it will”. Nigeria is a curious place where things are “that way” not only in the movies. I think we are like a sick man, even if you give him amala or shit, he will still vomit.
Though this article was written in 2010,its relevance to inspire change is now.It is much more worst with today’s movies.
if nollywood wants to go nude they should do it and make it look like real and stop that rubbish that even a four year old child will see and walk away in disgust.