Nomuzi Mabena found herself enduring throes of backlash on Friday.
The public counterblast followed a shocking publicity stunt staged by the V-Entertainment TV presenter and rapper, who on Thursday left fans chilled when her Instagram live stream appeared to end in a car crash.
The live stream features a decidedly inebriated Nomuzi interacting live with her followers as she announced that she would be soon accepting aspirant artists on her record label. The clip was taken in Nomuzi’s car after a date night with her boyfriend Sbu, who also happens to be her manager. The end of the ‘stream’ is a disturbing crash that left the country sending out prayers throughout the night and in the early hours on Friday.
While other fans reported having cross-nighted due to anxiety and fear for her life, Moozlie’s team kept mum for the better part of Friday. We now know that the silence was part of a carefully orchestrated campaign to shock fans and “spark a dialogue” about drinking and driving.
In what we now also know to be backpaddling from what was meant to be a full 48 hours of ghosting the nation, Mabena dished out an explanation of how the whole thing was a brand publicity move aimed at raising awareness against drinking and driving. Turns out the fake crash was a conceptual partnership between the rapper, Volkswagen and their Drive Dry campaign.
“We don’t want to see another year where thousands 0f lives are lost on our roads because of drinking and driving”, she wrote in a statement published on her social platforms.
But while the Vatel hitmaker explained that the intention of the traumatic clip was “never to distress any fans, friends or family”, the stunt was harshly criticised for being insensitive and potentially triggering for those who’ve had to recover from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that resulted from car accidents, those who’ve lost loved ones in tragic accidents under similar circumstances, and countless other instances where the advert could have opened have caused serious psychological harm.
The other side of the raging debate has focused on how the campaign has really championed a discussion about driving under the influence.
Your thoughts on the campaign?
Did they take it too far or was it a good initiative to talk about the very real, and very serious incidents of driving under the influence and allowing ourselves to be distracted by social media, thereby putting not only ourselves but other drivers in danger? Hit us up in the comments section below.