A few weeks ago, I joined several WhatsApp Groups to advertise my products in those groups. A good Samaritan in one of the groups generously gave me 500 links to different groups in different parts of the country. I saw a group titled Imbwa Dzevanhu. In Shona, Imbwa Dzevanhu can be loosely translated to “Dog” or dog-like behavior, or literally to “Dogs of the people”; either way, it’s a derogatory term that means you are a dog or you exhibit some extremely terrible traits that are similar to those of a dog. Bearing in mind, before dogs became beloved pets, they were marginalised creatures that were given leftover food to survive while they took care of households by alerting owners if there was an intruder or someone loitering around.
Fast forward to the 21st century, dogs are beloved pets, which are groomed, taken to the veterinary, given a special dog diet and treated better than yesteryear. Unfortunately, the term Imbwa dzevanhu has not evolved the same way dog care has over the past few years as it still is an insult to this day even though some dogs in the Northern Surburbs of Harare/rich Harare live a better life than the person being insulted using the phrase Imbwa Yemunhu.
Against this background, one is intrigued when they see the term Imbwa Dzevanhu on anything because the first thing that comes to mind is the Insult. When I first saw the group Imbwa Dzevanhu, knowing my fellow Zimbabweans who have a group literally for anything, I thought it was a joke. Since I am not a dog lover or a person interested in trivia, I didn’t see the need to join that group. It was only when I saw dog food labelled Imbwa Dzevanhu that a second thought dawned on me, that it was a group of dog lovers and they mostly share dog things in there from grooming, tips about caring for dogs and raising dogs and of course dog food.
Turns out Imbwa Dzevanhu is a dog food brand based in Harare and they specialise in making and distributing dog food. The people in the group previously mentioned are dog lovers who came together and borrowed the name Imbwa Dzevanhu from Imbwa Dzevanhu, the food brand. So the question then is, is naming their brand after a common Shona insult a stroke of genius or not and the answer is yes and no. Yes, in the sense that it is intriguing and attention-grabbing enough to warrant a reaction from someone like me who is generally nonchalant about almost everything dog-related. The name is a huge hit, if Im being honest as it invokes emotions, all emotions are good emotions in public relations. Also, Imbwa Dzevanhu is using this term the right way because the literal translation without the insulting connotation means People’s Dogs. To a lesser extent, those who are not quick to note that imbwa Dzevanhu in this context is not an insult might not like it. However, those people are not the target audience because they probably don’t see the bigger picture. The bottomline is Imbwa Dzevanhu is a stroke of genius.
The only drawback to this Imbwa Dzevanhu Brand is the fact that they are not on social media, would you like to get in touch with Imbwa Dzevanhu and buy dog food, please contact us so we can try and reach out to them to get their products on social media.