THE SPECIAL ONE-PAGE COLUMNS FOR FEMALE SINGLES ON NATIONAL DAILIES.

THE SPECIAL ONE-PAGE COLUMNS FOR FEMALE SINGLES ON NATIONAL DAILIES. A GREEK GIFT?

Nwanyanwu Christopher

            “Do you consider yourself stunning enough to grace our page 3? If yes, send your pix/data to 2, Coscharis Street, Kirikiri Industrial Estate. Apapa Lagos”. This is the invitational statement from one of the National dailies precisely the Sun newspaper about the special one page column for female singles popularly known as “Sun Girl”. In recent times there is a special one-page column for female singles on our national dailies. Although we have different national dailies, that of the Sun Newspaper is very obvious. This is done on every publication of theirs and even as I am writing this piece, it is still present in the day’s publication. Of course it is meant only for females; not just females but “stunning” ones. Those who consider themselves attractive enough go for it and without any financial involvement; they see themselves gracing the Sun’s page 3 as “Sun Girls”.

            On the Sun’s Newspaper, the Sun girls display their bio data such as their names, occupation and contact (email addresses and phone numbers mo        st of the time). Looking at them, they look attractive subjectively or objectively. At least they consider themselves as such. As the invitational statement reads, these girls do not have any financial involvement for such publication. They only send their pictures and fill a form where they give their bio data. Hence, the National dailies at least the Sun Newspaper does it without charge for them; and so we can say that it is a gift to the girls.

            However, beyond all these, is such a gift a Greek Gift? That is, is the special one-page column for female singles on National dailies a Greek gift? This question forms the core of this work as I shall take that of Sun Newspaper as a case of study.

            In order to situate this work in a proper context, a clarification of terms is necessary especially the key terms that shall be used in this work. The term “Greek gift” means a gift given with the intention of tricking and causing harm to the recipient. The term “harm” means damage or injury that is caused by a person or event. Based on this, we can have physical harm such as sustaining injury on the hand; material harm like loss of properties; spiritual harm such as loss of the sense of the sacred; moral harm like the loss of good morals. Put differently, harm brings a sort of inconvenience, discomfort, unhappiness, disturbance, etc. The term “trick” means something done in order to deceive someone or confuse one to see things the wrong way.

            Having clarified the basic terminologies of this work, the fundamental question still remains: is the special one-page columns foe female singles on National dailies a Greek gift?

            Looking at the invitational statement of the Newspaper (The Sun), the intention is just to use the publication in gracing the page 3 of their Newspaper. This was actually confirmed from a reliable source at the headquarters of the Newspaper where the informant noted that the publication is only aimed at gracing their page 3. Hence, they embark on such adventure without receiving any payment. This was equally confirmed by many Sun girls who too asserted that they never paid anything before they were published. Simply put, the intention behind the publication is to decorate and make the Newspaper more attractive as stunning girls are published.

            Definitely the publication does not end there. There is always an effect of it. On the positive side of it, some girls gain from it in various ways. Through that medium better connections are gotten like modeling of products, advertisements of goods and services. Also healthy and fruitful relationships begin which at times lead to a happy marriage. Again, old friends are re-united. These and many more can positively come out of it. On the negative side, some girls are derided and seen as “prostitutes” because of it and are of course poorly treated by those who see them as such. Some of them can get into relationships where at the long or short run, they regret everything. Afterwards they may regret the beginning of such problems and then trace it to the publication.

            Nonetheless, above all, there will be much distractions from the public, from the male and female folks. While the males will be mostly interested in relationships/connections, the females are likely to seek information about such publications especially when they are interested and then other persons with various intentions. On another level those who have their phone numbers published may have to bear with receiving calls at awkward times. Apparently, to turn the callers down becomes a bad option and to give the opportunity is a problem too. Hence, one is tempted to regret such a step. But after all these distractions and discomforts, while some meet with the positive side of it at the long/short run, some meet the negative.

            At this juncture, after all these considerations, can we still say that the Special one page column for female singles on National dailies is a Greek Gift?

            ` The obvious answer cannot be in the affirmative, for it is not a Greek gift. What makes a gift a Greek one is fundamentally the intention and not possibly the effect. This is because a gift can be given with a good intention but will go ahead to have a negative effect on the recipient and vice versa. And so a Greek gift is basically dependent on the intention which is to trick and cause harm to the recipient.

            You cannot say that they (national dailies) had the intention of causing harm of any type to the girls. If it is the case, what do they stand to gain when these girls are harmed in any way? For a Greek gift is given so that while it harms the recipient, it favours the donor in one way or the other. Arguably, one can say that the National daily use them to market their products. This may not be false for in one way or the other, it contributes to their sales. But even at that, just as an aspect of the media, they must certainly market their products. Besides, before the advent of such publications, were they not making their sales? And so we cannot say that the National dailies are heavily favoured by such publications and so we cannot say it is a Greek gift. Arguably one may say since intention is a matter of the heart, how do we know the true intention of the National daily towards that publication? The truth is that upon oral information from them (National daily) the true intention is just to grace their page 3 and a critical look at the whole thing will never contradict this fact.

            With regards to the ultimate effect of the publication, we cannot say that since it has some negative effects, it is therefore a Greek gift. Although we cannot go by the effect in the judgment of the constituent of a Greek gift; going by the effects, we can say that it is a Greek gift to some and a good gift to some others. But then the effects of the gift does not make it a Greek one, instead it is the intention; for there is a wide gap between the intention of an act and the effect of the act. Thus, from the intention of the National dailies, the publication is not a Greek gift. At least we have critical minds among the girls that buy such adventure. They would not have gone for it if they had considered it to be a Greek gift. Of course they must have heard about the experiences of some previous Sun girls. The funniest aspect of it is that the program is still going on and looking at its progress at the present, its end is still very far. Thus, we cannot say it is a Greek gift.

            In conclusion, the special one-page columns for female singles in our National dailies particularly the Sun Newspaper is meant only to grace the page 3 of the Newspaper. Yes it may have some harm at the short or long run, and it can equally have some good at the long or short run. Judging from the effects, it may be a bad gift or a good one depending on the type of effect one got from it. But since intention is fundamental to what makes a gift a Greek one, and the intention of the National daily is just to grace the page which on its own is not bad, regardless of the effect, the special one-page columns for female singles on the National dailies is not and can never be a Greek gift.

 

REFERENCES

Daily Sun, Vol.4 No.1398, Monday November 3, 2008. p.3

Daily Sun, Vol.4 No.1392, Tuesday October 21, 2008. p.3

Daily Sun, Vol.1 No.259, Thursday June 10, 2004. p.3

Daily SunVol.4 No.1111, Friday November 16, 2007. p.3

Daily Sun Vol.3 No 3, November 4, 2006 p.3

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