The Royco Advert

I just watched a Royco seasoning advert I had loved as a child.

An unhappy husband returning home from work is being welcomed by his lovely, stay-at-home wife. She comes at him with joy but he brushes her of. She tries to lighten up his mood by bringing him a glass of fresh juice which he turns down and continues reading the paper without even looking at her face.
Then she remembers Royco. And she rushes to the kitchen to put together a beautiful combo of vegetables, tomatoes, onions and Royco. Husband gets fed up with the house, grabs his car keys to go somewhere and blow of steam. The aroma from the kitchen stops him...he traces it to the kitchen and he rushes to the dinning table. In a jiffy, the table was set and his lovely wife, the tray with the beautiful dishes in her hands, came in and caught him in the act. They laugh. She feeds him happily, he eats happily and all is well again.

I still love that video. Properly captures the typical Nigerian home in the 80s and early 90s. The couple reminds me of my parents and other families I grew to know. They mirrored how they looked and lived. It was in that era that the song "Mummy in the kitchen cooking rice and Daddy in the parlour watching film" sprung from. And you can't blame them. We had happy families. Families held together by stereotypes. Where the goal of a young girl, even after her studies, is to marry a rich/comfortable man who will take care of her. The man simply wants to make lots of money. He is totally consumed with work- trying to make enough money to maintain his family's standard of living. His dream wife is a beautiful young thing who looks pretty and is as calm as a dove, whi is a wonder in the kitchen and who knows her place as a wife. A role the woman is very willing to play.

In this current dispensation, though cute, I don't want to live that life. Most young ladies don't. The life of a kept woman- whether married or no- is not in the books for most of us. We want to make our own money. That way, we would be financially responsible for ourselves and, if we are married to an amazing man, he wouldn't break his back trying to please us by meeting our every need. He wouldn't be so stressed if things don't work out because 'Bae can hold her own. If things don't work out, she's got us covered'.

Our happiness is now as important as the man's. Equally important. Our conversations wouldn't be limited to 'Dede, how was work to today?' The men would ask us too 'Babe, did that contract pull through? How's the dollar rate affecting the strength of your company?' Haha! I said it. We would have companies too. Yeah!

And our little babies! The lovely baby girls wouldn't only learn how to runa badass kitchen, but would also learn from their mum how to successfully manage a career. They will see mummy break boundaries upon boundaries, shatter glass ceilings and they will learn as they grow that, they too can do the same. They'll aspire to be like Daddy as much as Mummy. And the men they would choose would be held to higher standards too. The daper baby boys would learn to value and respect the womenfolk. They had seen their mother pull it off so they would hold their future girlfriends and wives to equal or higher standards than mummy. She would be rated not only based on her ability to rule the pestle and mortar, but also on her ability to conquer the boardroom. They would value women who contribute their quota on every level possible, and the world would be better for it.

So, as much as the Royco seasoning advert captures my heart, I want women and girls everywhere to aspire to be more.