Eba Alobo Ish
While I congratulate the 2018 winner of the Miss Africa Calabar Dorcas Kasinde, and applaud the state government for successfully playing host to over thirty girls from different African countries, one question that has refused to stop popping up in my mind is 'What is the economic value of these numerous pageants to the economy of Cross River State?
The state in recent time has become a hub for pageantry events ranging from the famous Miss Africa to Mr/Mrs NorthFest, Mr/Mrs Leboku among others. With time, if this trend should continue then in the near future we should equally have the Mr/Mr CenFest as well as SouFest to strike a balance among the three senatorial districts.
The question begging for answers include but not limited to: What value do the winners of these contests add to the state's economy, what impact do they create on our young girls, what has been heard of the winner of last editions of these events.
I don't believe that beauty contests truly have an impact on a consumer-based economy like ours. Beauty pageants or other contests, while occasionally newsworthy, are nowhere close to as in the spotlight as celebrities. Often times, the winner of even a huge beauty pageant like Miss Africa is out of the limelight within days. They don't do nearly the advertising work as big name celebrities, they don't discuss who they are wearing or what brand their makeup is. I don't believe that beauty contests are good or bad for the economy as I don't believe they correlate.
To a large extent I think that beauty contests are ruining our society. When most of our young girls watch those models walk the runway in a dress with half of their back showing, they think, "I wish I was her, I would be so beautiful," So they go and get plastic surgeries( for those who can afford) and pluck their eyebrows off. People are judging others in how well they look in a skin tight dress or how well they can pin their hair up. Some people who watch Miss Africa and other pageants like that become depressed because they don't think that they are pretty. Well I think that everybody is pretty on the inside and we don't need contests to prove it. Beauty as it is said is in the eye of the beholder and what is aesthetically beautify to one may not be appreciated by another.
The funds channeled to these events can be properly utilised especially in the Agricultural and Educational sub-sector. We should rather have contests like 'Most Vibrant Agriculturist" in Africa. It is high time we invest the resources of the state in more productive ventures rather than squander it on unproductive beauty pageants that contribute nothing to our Gross Domestic Product ( GDP) as a state.
No comments:
Post a Comment