It has been a norm for Kenyan to find humour even in the worst of Pandemics.  This has often been conveyed through various forms of comic representations. If not, parody music or skits, the tik tok imitations, memes as well as graphic design illustrations on apparel, various forms of fabric, and much more.

COVID-19 came with a fair share of unavoidable interest, and still grabs massive attention locally and across the globe.

Masks have been a definitive trend since the onset of the Covid-19 war,  having been passed as a key cautionary measure towards curbing and containing or preventing the spread of the virus.

And like usual, Kenyans have given this Masks ‘thingy’ a twist, with graphic illustration inclusions, additional features, options of african print designs,  imprints of fun messages and in some cases fixing logos or look-alike logos and brand elements of or that portray globally acclaimed and luxurious brands etcetera

One Key Brand that has been portrayed in these ‘trendy’ masks’ is the renowned and leading,  adult content website  Porn Hub. (Mind Checking the website?)  Their white, black, and orange/yellow themed, textual logo or its graphic design emulation thereof is pretty much UNMISTAKABLE. Unless you are from planet venus.

On 4th May, alongside fellow county legislators among other leaders during a donation exercise, Wundanyi’s darling and super MP, was spotted wearing a Porn-Hub-like mask however with the noble message “kaa kwako’ . A few regional netizens on social media noticed and laughed about it. Perhaps KOT (Kenyans On Twitter) haven’t yet noticed it. Let’s hope they DON’T.

However simple, this might seem,  it is enough to raise pertinent questions against the decision of the performing Member of Parliament to wear this particular mask before addressing the press, or whether the MP was aware or not aware of what this graphic design content meant beyond the impressive message. It raises an even tougher question as to the role of the Public relations department within the MP’s Office

The message is home though. Loud and clear ! No doubt!

Such a move, makes us roll back to a more or less similar case in which Taita Taveta County Governor’s, Ramadhan Message poster, featured an incorrect Arabic message/impression, an error which was spotted by Twitter user , KTN’s Ali Manzu, earlier on.

Inasmuch as human beings are subject to err, leaders and their support systems especially the departments and the employed professionals concerned with image and public relations must be meticulous now and into the future, more than ever, because one vote equally means signing up for one extra scrutiny eye.

Or mayabe not tooooo serious, coz once in a while, the electorate deserves a laugh too.

…..

It’s fair enough to note that, on a second round, the MP donated over 10,000 masks to his Wundanyi, Constituents. We can only hope the designs are different though.