In Chinua Achembe's widely-read novel, 'Things Fall Apart' Eneke the bird says that since men have learned to shoot without missing, he has learned to fly without perching'.
This statement seems to be what a number of mainstream media houses are applying amid a cut-throat competition for audiences in the wake of alternative digital media which has been a thorn in the flesh of the traditional media.
Mediamax Network Limited outlets which include K24 TV, Milele FM, Kameme FM, People Daily among others, have, for instance, resorted to publicity stunts and pranks which are undoubtedly aimed at increasing their audience numbers.
Below we focus on just but a few of the publicity stunts that the media house associated with President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto has employed of late in an attempt to draw attention and consequently soar the audience numbers.
1. K24 TV's unveiling of Betty Kyalo
While unveiling Betty Kyalo who now presents 'Weekend with Betty' (Friday and Saturday) late last year, the station had spent a whole day running a hashtag (#MysteriousVIP) where it was promising a mysterious guest who would grace Kyalo's inaugural show.
The so-called mysterious VIP was even filmed live by the station all the way from JKIA to the opulent Villa Rosa Kempinsky hotel ahead of the appearance on the show later that evening.
However, it emerged later that it was a well-planned publicity stunt as the mysterious VIP was the news presenter herself.
2. Khaligraph Jones singing explicit lyrics to Betty Kyalo
A video of Kaligraph singing his 'Stick' song to Betty elicited mixed reactions among Kenyans, with a majority of them arguing that the video was aimed at getting a wider audience to watch the interview with the artist.
3. Milele FM drive show presenters debacle
Despite the brawl that involved Milele FM's drive show co-hosts Kaka Zema and Doreen Nassi being very real at least going by the viral video and the station's initial suspension of the two, the Mediamax management has made a 360 degrees about-turn about the whole matter.
On Monday it reinstated the two errant presenters after effecting a reshuffle and brushed off the whole thing as a publicity stunt.
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