Kenyan restaurant chain Artcaffe came on the receiving end of heavy online criticism after announcing a competition seeking to reward creative artists in the country. You would wonder what is the problem with that; but as they say, the devil lies in the details.
Artcaffe invited artists willing to take part in the competition to come up with a creative design for their take-away coffee cups and at the same time ‘win big.’
The restaurant asked creatives to submit a design that is “beautiful, funky, inspiring, stylish, stunning, striking, capturing or illustrating what Nairobi means to you.”
And in return, the high-end restaurant chain stated it would reward the artist who designs the best piece of art with free daily coffee for a year. You read that right…! Free daily coffee for a year.
A majority of Kenyans of Twitter (KOT) were upset by that reward and immediately went into overdrive trolling Artcaffe and trashing their ‘free daily coffee for a year’ gift.
Attempts by the restaurant to clarify that “free daily coffee for a year” was not the ultimate prize and that the winning artist would also benefit from exposure, fell on deaf ears. The online bashing continued, forcing the restaurant back to the drawing board to add some icing on the cake.
Here are some of the reactions to Artcaffe’s initial offer:
Radio Presenter Kamene Goro said: “You cannot tell someone that for your hardwork ‘I will give you this intangible thing called exposure.’ Especially for a big organization like Artcaffe. You cannot pay with exposure. Exposure is not currency.”
Some Kenyans on Twitter had a different opinion:
Radio presenter Jalang’o defended artcaffe saying exposure was more important that money.
“If you are not in the creative industry, you might troll artcaffe all you want and say how exposure is not enough. But kudos to art caffe for that chance you are giving out to these artists. But I would tell you, I personally were not for exposure and being paid with a packet of chips, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” he said.
Artcaffe now says the artist who emerges top will receive Ksh.100,000 cash prize or free daily coffee for a year at the artist’s choice.
In addition to that they will receive a paid internship with the Artcaffe Design Team for 2 months in addition to an opportunity to exhibit and sell their art in one of the Artcaffe restaurants for two months.
The best artists profile will also be shared out on Artcaffe’s website and all its social media platforms and also have their artwork and name printed on the take-away cups.
The first and second runner’s up will also receive varying cash and exposure prizes.
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