By Pelumi King
Social Media has a huge influence on everybody not only celebrities. But this article will be focusing on the influence it has on celebrities particularly during this lock down and quarantine period.
This article will be focusing on three Nigerian celebrities who have trended consistently mostly for the wrong reasons. One is Naira Marley, second is Burna Boy and the third is Funke Akindele.
Starting with both Naira Marley and Burna Boy, they can be described as the Enemy No 1 on twitter because of their controversial statements that attack some percentage of Nigerian. While it may be true to some extent that some of these statements are true, Twitter Nigerians are apparently not happy about it so they dragged them ruthlessly on social media.
Well, it should be said that these draggings have had little effects on their careers progress. Both of them are still waxing stronger in the music industry. For instance, Burna Boy’s recently released song, Odogwu, was a massive hit. In just three weeks, the video has clocked 2.4 million views and that numbers are bound to increase. Naira Marley’s recently released song. Aye, is currently one of the favourite playlists on many of his fans. Social media to some extent has had positive effects on their career through the constant promotion Twitter Nigerians give to them without them even knowing it. This promotion has somehow attracted numerous sponsors to them. More sponsors mean more money.
The major negative effect that it has had on their careers is in the area of their public image. The public perception or image about these two artistes especially in the case of Naira Marley is very negative and bad. This must have perhaps been a turn off for sponsors who care about the public image of the celebrities they plan to endorse. Perhaps the most hated Nigerian artistes are Naira Marley and Burna boy. Some sections of Twitter Nigerians nicknamed him “Ikorodu lucky dube” on twitter. One thing is very clear that they are certainly not loved and are viewed badly by most twitter Nigerians.
The most affected celebrity among these three should be Funke Akindele. Funke Akindele has been largely successful and had little controversy up until the point she held that house party. Her public image was almost perfect. People seemed to love her until the video of that house party hosted in honour of the birthday of her husband went viral. As expected, twitter Nigerians came out in full force to condemn her with some demanding that she be jailed for her actions, some said she should be punished. Just like the good public image that she has managed to sustain came crashing down like a pack of cards. It has been largely reported that she lost her endorsement deal with Dettol. She might have possibly lost more. She and her husband were sentenced to 14 days’ community service.
There are so many other celebrities that can be cited as an example of the huge influence of social media on celebrities but with these three as an example, social media can either influence a celebrity’s career in a negative way or in a positive way. Either way, social media has a very big influence on celebrities.
