Cadbury Dairy Milk Inspires A Love Of Reading With New #InOurOwnWords Campaign
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- 14 June 2021
Cadbury Dairy Milk Inspires A Love Of Reading With New #InOurOwnWords Campaign
‘A love of reading is sparked when children see themselves in stories and relate it to their lives, even more so when it is shared in their home language,’ says Xolisa Guzula, an early literary specialist.
It is an unfortunate reality that many children in South Africa do not have the opportunity to read books in their home language or books that carry the narratives reflective of their homes and environments. The first book handed to them is often narrated by a voice in a language that is not their own. Very few children are given the chance to comprehend stories in a language that their mothers use in conversation. In 2016, the Publishers Association SA completed a survey that found that only 2% of children’s books in South Africa are narratives written in children’s home languages. This means that 98% of commercially published books are written in a language that are used in spaces outside of the home. It is shocking that the languages many children speak at home, languages that enable their comprehension, are not used in places of learning in a country where 80% of the population struggles to relate to narratives expressed in English or Afrikaans. In other words, since language is a store house of a people’s reality, these narratives are not relatable to the ordinary South African child.
Cadbury Dairy Milk’s #InOurOwnWords campaign aims to offer South African children stories that resemble their own experiences in their own languages. The overall objective is to instill a love for reading in children and ultimately create a society where reading does not feel like a daunting task. This marks the first phase of the Road to Succeed initiative. Through this campaign, Cadbury will create a library of enchanting children’s stories available in all African languages.
The campaign kickstarts with the story of Mrs Mabena, a film that is reflective of Sfiso and Mrs Mabena’s relationship that sees its dawn with a small act of kindness. The film follows a narrative whereby Mrs Mabena cares for Sfiso while his mother is at work. During this time, Mrs Mabena encourages Sfiso to do his schoolwork, which he reluctantly completes. In addition, Sfiso perceives Mrs Mabena’s instructions as strict. This familiar narrative is a window to the reality of our domestic spaces. When Sifiso sees his mother paying Mrs. Mabena in gratitude, a courtesy she lovingly declines, he realises that Mrs Mabena isn’t strict – she’s extending a hand of generosity. He decides to reward one act of generosity with another – slipping his own bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk into her bag. The film ends with her finding a bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk and smiling, an act of Safiso’s gratitude. VCCP London worked with local upcoming director Zee Ntuli and production company Darling films to create the film which was shot on location in Johannesburg.
To showcase the stark statistics related to the lack of African language stories for children, and reiterate the importance of this campaign, Cadbury Dairy Milk replaced a few shelves of much-loved chocolates with blank books. The wordless books represent the enchanting stories Cadbury Dairy Milk hopes to fill with the words they are asking South Africans share. Together with partners and the public they aim to create and translate 1500 new stories for children in their home languages by 2023.
These activities kicked off the consumer driven activation #InOurOwnWords, created by Ogilvy South Africa. It taps into the inherent generosity of the South African public and calls on them to help co-author this library of enchanting children’s stories in African languages.
Langa Khanyile, chocolate equity lead, Sub Saharan Africa said: “Cadbury Dairy Milk has always been a brand that aims to bring people closer together, we are founded in the spirit of generosity and pioneering social impact. This work forms part of a journey that calls on all South Africans to help tackle the pertinent social tension of illiteracy and help re-write the narratives of our people, in our own words, one word at a time.’’
Everyone can help Cadbury Dairy Milk realise the goal of co-authoring 1500 books by visiting www.cadbury.co.za to start generously translating words from English into their home language. Nal’ibali, a reading for enjoyment programme, with its team of young, local authors are standing by to weave all of these translated words into exciting new stories that will be made available for parents and children to download and enjoy!