Lerato Honey…

I recently saw a debate on the Twitter timeline about brand alignment in friendship circles. A girl was saying that a friend of hers, who did not enjoy getting dressed up to go out, cannot be upset at not being included in her Instagram photos because ‘Lerato with the pumps’, as she was dubbed, did not align with her brand.

She explained that she is a content creator and influencer and has to maintain a certain aesthetic on her page in order to bring in the bag, and if Lerato was not willing to fit into that particular theme, she would have to be left out.

Others piped in and agreed because if someone invited them to a VIP event to drink champagne and mingle with the hobnobs, they knew which of their friends they would call to join them and which they wouldn’t.

Many people were outraged. They called the Twitter user a bad, fake and disloyal friend who only used other people to get ahead. Those who agreed with her were attacked too and called all sorts of unseemly things.

I personally think everyone overreacted. Firstly, those who were getting upset were people who did not work in entertainment and who honestly, by the looks of it, did not care much about their appearance.

These are people who do not understand the importance of selling a brand, and making sure that all areas of your life align with what brings money in. They were arguing from their own perspective, one in which going out is not part of their work.

It doesn’t even make sense to defend ‘Lerato with the pumps’ that ferociously, when it’s obvious that the Lerato in any fabulously dressed and made-up person’s life doesn’t even want to be popping bottles with you in the VVIP. Maybe she’s the friend who only wants to watch movies indoors with you or catch up on Mondays about how your weekend was.

Because trust me, if Lerato wanted to live the life of her fabulous friend, she would drop the pumps and glam up a little bit. Why should her influencer friend do all the work (constantly doing hair, make-up, styling, taking photo after photo, editing and posting) just for her to stroll in with zero effort but still sip the same sparkling wine?

It doesn’t mean your friendship isn’t real. It just means that there are some things you do with some friends and some things you do with others.

Even I have some seriously fabulous friends, and trust me if I know I’m gonna be with them, I put in the effort. Because we live in a visual world. People are taking selfies every five minutes, they are going live on Insta, they are making fun video calls. And at no point do you want to be caught slipping and bring down the group average.

Yes. I said group average, but we aren’t talking about playground friendships here, we are talking about friendships where both of us want to work in this particular industry, we both see the value in our brands and want to work together to not only capitalise off them but also to improve them.

So trust me, Lerato is fine where she is and she is happy to not be included.

Anne Hambuda is a marketing specialist who has worked with top brands in Namibia to optimise their reach and cultivate lasting relationships with consumers and audiences. She specialises in event planning, artist management, entertainment retailing and media coaching.

– annehambuda@gmail.com @anne_hambuda on social media.

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