Newspaper article 21, Contraband Modern in the Fes Medina

The Media Campaign against Contraband... Waiting for Godot!

To What Extent the Audience Can Believe the Discourse of the Authorities who in fact Lack Credibility?

The Media Campaign Does Not Provide Alternatives.

By: Abd-eljebbar Rachdi

Al-alam, N° 16649, November 27, 1995

The administration of custom and indirect taxes has allotted large amounts of money to fund a media campaign against contraband; a campaign which the authorities depend on heavily to inform and edify the Moroccan consumer of the dangers of contraband and the serious threat caused by foreign products and objects, especially those coming from the north of the country, to the national economy. Every kind of product creeps in from the north to overwhelm the markets of the south.

The phenomenon of contraband, it has not been long since the people became aware of its dangers, brings about many questions about its nature and circumstances, and the secret behind the enmeshing of the Moroccan economy in contraband for more than thirty years? Why does the media campaign not include all forms of contraband and limits itself to food and electronic products? What is the position of the national producer in this campaign? Will these producers undertake to improve the quality of their production and meet the needs of the Moroccan market without raising prices? What category of people does this campaign target? And what kind of audience does this campaign concern?

The questions are many, and the justifications are diverse, and we have to question the aims of this campaign. Yet, the questions are valid, and the justifications in their diversity are either convincing or not?? What is striking is that products coming from the north seldom respect the norms of quality, techniques, packaging norms, and the issues of health adopted by the European Union (the Common Market). They are products expelled and prohibited from circulation in Europe, and any country has the right to resist all that may affect its national economy and the health of its citizens. But the big question is related to the professional side of this media campaign against contraband. Does the latter respect the scientific standards of a propaganda campaign? Is this campaign able, under the state’s monopoly of the media discourse, to change the consumer culture of the Moroccan audience? To what extent can this audience believe a media discourse by bodies which lack credibility (radio and television)? Is this campaign able to carry out its aims?
Scholars of media and communication claim that the propaganda campaign, devoid from any commercial profits, is an attempt to inform, convince and urge a large and confined audience to change their behavior. It targets the individuals or society in general, in a restrictive and well-policed period, through very organized meditative agents, who acquire the tools of communication (Mohamed Najib Srayra and others, Introduction to the Communication of Population, 1990, p. 72-73). The media campaign has to be preceded by some studies –pre-test– to check the degree to which the audience can respond to the issue of the campaign, in addition to a fieldwork study within the process of the campaign to know its effects on the audience and to avoid the possible drawbacks that might emanate. The campaign ends with a study of its results.

From this theoretical point of view, one can say that the scientific methods of the media campaign play a conspicuous role in the rationalization of the media discourse and enables the latter to modify Moroccan consumership. Yet, it is worth noting that there are various gaps and biases concerning both form and content, which may affect the productivity of the campaign against contraband. In what follows, I cite these gaps as remarks:

The first remark: the media campaign against contraband cannot come out with positive results, if the mediator, through which the campaign is transmitted –radio and television–, lacks credibility. In such a situation, the campaign remains uncertain about its intended aims, because the credibility of media is closely related to the credibility of the body and its agents, who manage all its functions.

The second remark: one of the conditions of the media campaign, which targets an audience to change its consumership, is stimulation. In all advertisements against contraband, we witness no form of motivation for the consumer to buy objects and products made in Morocco. We also see no serious initiative on the part of the Moroccan producers to edify the audience on the importance of Moroccan production and the current situation of the Moroccan economy because of contraband. The organizations of Moroccan producers do not show any readiness, promise or intent to promote national production and secure more productivity and quality. Leaders of such campaigns and the scholars usually see that positive motivation is better than the negative one. The campaign becomes more effective if it takes the positive change in behaviors as its aim, instead of projecting the negative results of the current situation. Fear as a strategy for change is seldom successful in a campaign.

The third remark: this remark is related to the previous one. This campaign does not provide images of alternative production which would enable to repel the leftovers of foreign production.

The fourth remark: that this campaign against contraband is confined to the mass media means while it would be better to rely on other traditional means of communication in what is called social communication, like the reliance on the decision makers, Fakihs, rhetoricians...in addition to schools, the associations related to it, and finally the bipersonal communication which would secure good results for the media campaigns like this.

The last word: Spain has resorted in the last summer to circulate a rumour that Moroccan agricultural products are affected by the disease of cholera. This rumour has influenced greatly the psychology and behavior of the Spanish audience. Spain uses rumours, while Morocco uses media as a means to convince its audience; and we are all waiting for the results.

Translated by: Mohammed Ahmed Gain