It has not been long since South African beer, Castle Milk Stout, announced the launch of its ‘Afrikaroake’ campaign. The campaign is one that was designed to preserve our African traditional songs for present and future generations to come, by reminding and teaching the youth of an important aspect of our African history which has been traditional music.
In honour of Heritage Month, the brand officially launched the campaign at The Artistry in Sandton, revealing that they would be partnering with popular artists Yanga Chief and Ntate Stunna, specifically to appeal to the targeted audience, which is young people.
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In an unfortunate turn of events, one internet user has come forward to call the popular beer brand out for adopting her ‘Afri karaoke’ idea as their own. In a lengthy video, TikTok user @spokenpriestess details the long journey with her project which has now been registered with the trademark examiner’s office under the name, Afri Sauti Karaoke.
Revealing that she has been working on her project since 2020, the Afrobeats DJ revealed that the big brand has not only pinched the name of her project which she originally named ‘Afri Karaoke’ but has gone as far as adopting her concept as a whole, where she points out similarities even in the wording used to describe the campaign.
@spokenpriestess_ Have you seen the new CASTLE MILK STOUT heritage month campaign?! The campaign, called “Afrikaraoke” bears the legacy name and descriptions of my African karaoke event. Check out their pages & look at the content I’ve put out about #Afrisautikaraoke over the years ? Let’s repost this video & spread awareness about this so that my story gets more attention. #Afrikaraoke #Africankaraoke #karaoke #karaokenight #castlemilkstout #sab #southafricanbreweries #abinbev #heritagemonth #trademarks #copyright #greenscreen ♬ original sound – SPOKENPRIESTESS ? (DJ)
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), the user has raised awareness concerning her conundrum, highlighting that she believes that the brand is aware of her original concept, as she is close with a few people who work closely with the brand. She also expressed her disappointment in the brand for not only repossessing her idea, but also for not involving and working with her to elevate her already established platform.
The real disappointment is that we’ve reached out to the AB-InBev legal manager and someone at M-Sports as well, but it appears that they’re going to continue as if they don’t know about this. So, I’m going to use my platform to spread awareness and ask that you do too. ??
— SPOKENPRIESTESS ? (@spokenpriestess) September 9, 2024
As expected, internet users across multiple platforms have declared that they will be backing her up to ensure that Castle Milk Stout is held accountable for their actions.
“Where do I sign the petition? In the meantime, let’s stop supporting castle milk stout until they compensate you for you for your ideas,” one user wrote.
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