An advert on one of the most read newspaper the Daily Nation called on people to send in love poems that will be featured on valentines day. The poets had to part with Ksh. 1000 for their poetry to be published and a lucky winner in some sought of a raffle will be picked to win a gateway.
The advert read;
"Do you love poetry?
Send a 50 word love poem to valentines@ke.nationmedia.com and stand a chance to win a valentine to remember!! Once the email has been received, you will receive a reference number that allows you to pay 1000 Ksh for your poem to appear on 14th February 2014 in the Friday Nation. The winning poem will be picked by the editor. No correspondence will be entered into thereafter."
This did not go well with poetry lovers they actually targeted as the most elite poets in the country lashed out at the paper on social media protesting the advert for undermining creative works by the poets. In a Hastag labeld #PayThePOETS on Facebook and the Same on Twitter, The poets were actually saying it is them to be paid and not the other way that . If a recording music artists starts to pay radio stations to play his music then something is actually wrong, this applies to poets as well.
Bloggers too joined the protests with their blog posts; guys like Wamathai an established Kenyan poet and writer published a post titled "Nation is exploiting poets with Valentine’s Day poetry competition", also Intellectual Property Lawyer Liz Lenjo in her post "Robbing Competitions: An Outcry on Behalf of Kenyan Poets termed the advert as ludicrous marketing strategy.
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