Netflix Nigeria released an ad campaign tagged #AfricaOnNetflix that shows off the principal players in its streaming platform in Africa. The global streaming giant is providing Nigerian creatives access to the global stage as their amazing indigenous stories will now enjoy a worldwide audience across 160 countries.

However, the Video ad which features Nollywood’s Genevieve Nnaji, Kunle Afolayan, Akin Omotoso, Mo Abudu, and Kate Henshaw, alongside South Africa’s Pearl Thusi, Gaopie Kabie and more, raised some eyebrows, because it looked a bit too similar to the one released earlier by their Nigerian competitor, DSTV.

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Watch the video till the end to see #DSTV's version. . . . I know the concept is quite generic and that both companies have similar messages, but all the more reason why one would expect #Netflix to have taken a different approach, given that a competitor had done something similar recently. . . . But they didn't and that's a shame because this just creates a negative perception about what to expect from @netflix_naija – nothing but recircled content that we've seen before on @dstvnigeria . . . Unless it was done on purpose? The first sentence on the Netflix ad talks about taking someone else's story and giving it a different face until the originator is lost. Is that what they did? Because if we are being completely honest, Netflix's production looks better than that of DSTV. It's more diverse. . . . Could it be that the ad is a clever double entendre sending two different messages to their audience and competitor? Is Netflix sending a message to DSTV? Something like, we are here now so get lost because we will tell your African story better than you? . . . And you'd want to believe it because some of the best movie producers & actors in Africa were featured in the #Netflix ad. If that be the case, then the ad is genius! Lol. . . . Which do you think it is? . . . #LivewithLynda #WithCreativityEverythingComesAlive

A post shared by Live with Lynda (@livewithlynda) on Jun 23, 2020 at 10:34am PDT

Well, I want to believe it was intentional, albeit poorly executed, but the majority of comments on my Instagram post seem to think the Netflix ad was a blatant case of copy and paste. What do you think?