The Ghana dancing pallbearers have pledged a quarter of their 1 million dollar earnings from the sale of an NFT of their popular Coffin Dance to Ukraine. In 2020, they danced their way into our social media and news channels with a vibrant casket-carrying routine and as of April, 9th 2022, the Ghanaian dancing pallbearers have sold their famous coffin dance meme as a Non-Fungible Token (NFT) for over $1 million.
The 10-second video meme was minted as an NFT by the Dancing Pallbearers’ team on 7th April 2022 and auctioned in a historic NFT auction led by Zlodei Advertising, a Ukrainian advertising agency. In essence, this means the coffin dance meme was turned into a non-fungible token with unique metadata that cannot be duplicated. Instead of having to process how a meme that has been around for years is being sold, it helps to look at it as a sale of the digital certificate that shows who owns the meme.
Turning Memes into Millions.
Initially valued at 2 ETH (about $6,000), the sale was topped by Dubai-based 3F Music for 327 ETH- an equivalent of $1,047,806 making them now the official owner of the Coffin Dance meme. The amount places the meme among the biggest African NFT auctions and one of the most valuable NFTs to have crossed the million-dollar mark worldwide.
The sale hits three birds with one stone as it enables the group to earn from their worldwide fame while availing them with resources to further develop their creativity on top of providing support to Ukraine as it fends off the Russian invasion.
According to reports, the donation was part of an agreement attached to the auctioning for 25% of the sale designated to supporting Ukraine. At least $250,000 from the sale will go to support Ukraine through the international charitable foundation Come Back Alive, $500,000 will go to the stars of the viral video and the creator of the meme and the advertising agency will receive $250,000.
Reception and reactions.
This sale comes as Africa’s biggest NFT art auction, the Out of Africa NFT Collection, is underway and shows the scale to which creatives in Africa can earn from their craft and the NFT space. While the dancing pallbearers went viral in 2020 amidst the pandemic and attracted global interest, they previously had almost no profitability from their popularity as the meme videos were monetized by the music label instead.
Amidst criticism from local groups for supporting a distant cause such as Ukraine while Ghana itself is dealing with an economic downturn, the group leader, Benjamin Aidoo made the case that from a public relations standpoint, this was the best cause for them to attach to at this time. With the world stage focused on Ukraine, the group hopes to gain recognition for supporting the humanitarian efforts with this gesture.
Beyond the humanitarian good, this sale has driven interest in NFTs with more individuals on the African continent open to learning about crypto as well as ways they can contribute to and grow the ecosystem to be more lucrative.