Commodifying celebrityship in products’ adverts: The Kannywood experience

Abstract

This paper investigates the commodification of actors in Kannywood serials. Though considered a threat and depraved by many, the Hausa film industry, Kannywood, has remained a home to Hausa celebrity actors. As a medium and an industry with a large audience beyond Northern Nigeria, the Hausa film industry has become a fertile ground for economic viability through advertisement, notwithstanding the criticisms it suffers from purists and the government. The actors' credibility, which stemmed from the enforced ethical principles, has earned them absolute trust and acceptance from their audience and placed them in celebrity status. This celebrity status has thus positioned most of Kannywood A-listers as influencers of several companies and ambassadors for numerous products. Consequently, these opportunities birthed an avenue for the actors to create their brands and products advertised at several intermissions in Hausa serials. Using the source celebrity model as a tool for analysis, the paper examines the efficacy of actors’ celebrityship in advertisements, branding, and imaging in Rufaida Yoghurt and Turaren Abale in the Kannywood serial, Sanda.