Airtel hitting Safaricom below the Belt in new Data Campaign

Airtel Safaricom

Safaricom leads the telco industry in Kenya, with over 30 million subscribers amounting to almost 67% share of the market. That lead however has been closed down even as the market awaits the merger between Airtel and Telkom. It is thus no wonder that Airtel’s perceived targetting of Kenya’s telco giant has been met as such. Safaricom dominates, even though it is not a dominant competitor.

Image result for airtel vs safaricom

In turn, customers have on occasion accused Safaricom of pretty much doing what it wants. Many a gulp of surprise has been occasioned when one buys a data bundle, and after some moments of use receives a message alerting them their data bundle is almost up.

This is what has formed the basis of the new provocative Airtel ads. Using the hashtag #GetWhatYouPayFor, the ‘Smartphone Network’ has been depicting a scenario of already devoured food stuff from a supposed green supplier. It could also be a retelling of the pizza company’s saga in the USA, where Pizza Hut sued Papa John’s Pizza for using a tagline, “Better ingredients, Better pizza.” The tagline, it was argued, clearly pointed to better pizza by Papa John’s in relation to Pizza Hut.

Whereas initially Pizza Hut were awarded damages, subsequent appeals ruled in favour of Papa John’s, terming the tagline “subjective”. The same case may also be applied here, with Airtel seemingly avoiding the false advertising charge as they do not seem to make a brazen claim about their product. If Red Bull cannot be expected to give its customers wings, then it may be a bridge too far if Safaricom wants to cry foul.

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