Let us assume you are new to the Nairobi party life. Let us also assume that you are not an amateur to the world of clubbing. Maybe you are transiting from a different city or even country. You want to know what’s hot and what’s not. Or even maybe you have been going to the same place for a while now. You want to explore, see what else Nairobi has to offer.
So, your first and most likely move you consult a friend we all have in common. Google!
Yes, you get a list of cool places to visit right from the google my business page. But if I am correct, clubs, restaurants, and hotels, all have one thing in common. It is more about the experience and interuction, the fun stuff and less of how fancy they look, unless you are looking for places that look good for the gram.
You might ask a more human friend about their own personal experience. But what happens if you don’t have one or maybe the one person you know doesn’t match your taste or expectation? How do you get a taste of the experience without having to visit the place?
Can you think of a place where people love to share their experiences? A place where everyone has mastered the art of perfection? A place where people basically brag about wonderful experiences and nice places? I know of a place, do you?
Instagram. On visiting the official 40forty Lounge official Instagram page. One thing you will see in plenty of beautiful women or girls depending on how you prefer to refer. Curvy, tall, dark, light, slim name them, they are all there. The one thing they all have in common is they all appear happy. Sorry, that sounds like I am implying something. They are all happy. From tight jeans, short skirts, crop tops and see through tops the representation of the real Sherehe experience is there for you to see. As a single man looking to have fun, this will surely seem like the ultimate destination. And for the single ladies looking for the ultimate spot, where all the cool kids go. You will most definitely be convinced.
This is replicated across every other club or restaurant’s social pages. They will give a feel of the place that convinces you to visit. Having a social media page and a manager, or a photographer has become more of a must have for these joints. But this has recently been hit with an eye-opening incidence.
In a recent action by the office of the data protection commissioner Casa vera lounge was fined a whopping 1.8 million for posting a reveller’s image on their social media platform without their consent. This in turn forced other restaurants and clubs to come up with a counter measure to safeguard themselves from this ever happening to them.
Therefore, the next time you enter your favourite joint, you will most probably see message pinned somewhere on the wall.
Now, before this is what would happen is, they would either be courteous enough to request to take a picture or sometimes just do so without asking. Then the next day you will find yourselfon their socials possing with some strangers you most probably hadn’t met before. If you looked good, then you would have no issues. Would most likely even take a screenshot to share on your own platforms. What if you looked awful? Well, then you most definetly wont make it to their socials.
But now basically they have the authority to do so without asking and do whatever they want without your permission. Basically, the moment you walk in, you are a movie star or model for hire, and ironically you are the one paying them and not the other way. After all you are there to spend and have fun, and they are there to show others through you how fun their place is.
To make things even worse, we don’t go to these clubs to be on our best behaviour. We go there to have the nights of our lives. These are the places we are at our most carefree, and if that is not enough, the alcohol doesn’t make it any better. So, in simpler terms if someone has the permission to film you, sometimes without your knowledge and do whatever they want with the footage. Trust me, you do not want it to be on a Saturday night at the club with your buddies, after several shots of Tequila and god knows what else. It would rather be the next morning during the church service as you repent your sins, that is if you make it to church the next morning and the hangover hasn’t messed up your face.
Personally, this seems like a step in the right direction with all things data protection, but I am not convinced it will work as intended. Coz let us be honest, based on our experience with reading terms and conditions and understanding the consequences before agreeing to them. We can comfortably say that…well, you know where I am going with this. So, the next time you go out with someone else’s person or mpoa as has come to be known here in Nairobi, or decide to join in on the twerk contest be sure the cameras are watching, and you can do nothing about it. After all you accepted to the terms and conditions without even reading them. Unless we are ready to say goodbye as Nairobi, to the night and club life then I feel like we have just opened a Pandoras box. But again, I might be wrong, let me know down below what your thoughts are.
