The Team Online

Abstract

This article examines an entertainment-education program, The Team, which began airing in Kenya after the 2007–2008 postelection violence. The show promotes cooperation and national unity among Kenyans through the metaphor of Kenya as a football (soccer) team. The focus of this article is twofold: viewers’ identification with and reaction to certain morally ambiguous characters and audience members’ interaction with the program through the online social networking site Facebook. We argue that the producers’ attempt to create less didactic storylines and more complex characters resulted in unanticipated audience opposition to the death of a character the producers understood to be negative but audience members viewed as sympathetic. Second, the adoption of social media resulted in less controlled discussions in which Facebook users occasionally questioned, challenged, and sought to reshape the producers’ goals and strategies.

Concerns With Entertainment-Education: Zombie Pandemic Preparedness and the Unanticipated Promotion of a Weapons Culture

“…EE has distinct advantages including its emotional appeal to audiences, the fact that it is relatively cheap to create, and that it can be commercially successful (Singhal, Rogers, & Brown, 1993; Tukachinksy & Tokunaga, 2013). However, it should also be acknowledged that some researchers exploring the use of EE have noted unanticipated consequences (Olajide & Oresanya, 2016; Tukachinksy, 2015; Tully & Ekdale, 2014). This has included for example resistance among viewers to a plot which involved the death of a character the editors viewed as negative, but toward whom the audience were sympathetic (Tully & Ekdale, 2014).…”

“…However, it should also be acknowledged that some researchers exploring the use of EE have noted unanticipated consequences (Olajide & Oresanya, 2016; Tukachinksy, 2015; Tully & Ekdale, 2014). This has included for example resistance among viewers to a plot which involved the death of a character the editors viewed as negative, but toward whom the audience were sympathetic (Tully & Ekdale, 2014).…”

When celebrity athletes are ‘social movement entrepreneurs’: A study of the role of elite runners in run-for-peace events in post-conflict Kenya in 2008

“…These efforts included television and social media campaigns that shared goals around promoting inter-ethnic understanding and creating opportunities for enhanced communication (cf. Tully and Ekdale, 2012).…”

#Whatwouldmagufulido? Kenya’s digital “practices” and “individuation” as a (non)political act

“…Some of these include Simon et al's discussion of how Twitter became the "dominant social media platform used by the public and responding organizations" 21 during the Westgate Mall terrorist attack in Nairobi in September 2013. Tully and Ekdale look at the everyday use of Twitter in Kenya arguing that it provides space for popular engagement with both the banal and the serious 22 . They propose that these sites should be examined within ICTD research as discussions therein constitute important issues related to development.…”