THE FLIGHT OF TANZANITE

If you know anything about the mechanics of product research and marketing, you will know that millions of rands are spent annually by those functions of any business. Symbols, signs and slogans are not just some random characteristic on any product, but the result of multi-million rand research with consumer response and acceptance of these "marks" featuring very highly in the final selection thereof.

The mark of the world's leading pageant, the Miss Universe pageant, was an easily-identifiable crown with the lady in the centre of a grouping of oval hoops extending upwards from the base. Any pageant fan anywhere in the world was able to identify the wearer as a Miss Universe even when the wearer was not sporting the Miss Universe sash. The Miss Universe "lady" was to pageants what the Ferrari "stallion" is to motor-vehicles.

In recent times, the Miss Universe Organisation has been "prostituting" the brand by slapping a new tiara, supplied by a company offering the biggest financial incentives, on the heads of its' winners every other year. I do understand that sponsorships have been an integral part of pageants since pageants first became popular, but do said sponsorships have to lead to the demise of the marks and symbols that identify the brand in the name of money?

Where the Miss Universe crown was an easily identifiable mark of the pageant, the Miss SA pageant has never had a unique crown that identified the wearer as Miss SA. Since the first Miss SA was named in 1956, at least 20 different crowns have adorned the heads of our national beauties. Often the Miss Bapsfontein-Sur-La-Plage pageant (ok....it's an imaginary pageant, not an actual one) had a more impressive crown than the Miss SA pageant.

In 2004, The Tanzanite Company created a crown for the winner of the Miss SA pageant that would serve to distinguish the wearer as the winner of the national beauty pageant from the host of other regional and metropolitan pageants. It was made from white gold encrusted with a host of Tanzanite gemstones, and whilst I was not particularly taken by the design (it looked more like a device for toasting marshmallows at a braai than a pageant crown), it did become the symbol of the Miss SA pageant.

Just when I was getting used to the "marshmallow toaster tiara", I learnt that the crown was merely a 5-year sponsorship deal and, since the supplier thereof was not getting the desired "mileage" in terms of their brand, the sponsorship was not renewed after the initial 5-year period. The result is that the stunning new Miss SA, Nicole Flint, now sports a crown that looks like it comes from Bettie's Bridal Boutique in Benoni.

Come now Sun International. Fork out (bad choice of words given the design of the previous crown, I suppose) for a decent Miss SA crown. Business can't be THAT bad that you can't afford a decent crown for Miss SA.