Bill and Melinda Gates: The unraveling of mega brands
The announcement of the parting of ways between Bill and Melinda Gates came as a shock to most people. The bewilderment that greeted the announcement was partly due to the idyllic portrayals of the couple, working together and fighting for the same cause. This had given the impression of a happy, almost ideal couple.
Bill and Melinda Gates announced their divorce after 27 years of marriage, saying “Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives. We continue to share a belief in that mission and will continue our work together at the foundation, but we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in the next phase of our lives”.
The couple, via their Twitter handle, asked for space and privacy as they began to navigate their new life.
What is surprising about the whole development was that the public had no inkling of this. In fact, the couple still had a public appearance about two weeks prior to the divorce. This is quite unlike their fellow billionaire former couple, Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie whose divorce emanated from Jeff’s undisguised affair with MacKenzie’s friend, Sanchez.
While the decision to remain married or go separate ways remains that of the couple concerned, and given the importance of the personalities involved, it is not out of place to wonder on the implication for their public life. Will the unity of purpose that defined the work and workings of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a philanthropic organisation with global reach and impact, be the same? To assuage the world of this line of thought, a Gates Foundation spokesperson said that the philanthropy did not anticipate changes to its work as both Bill Gates and Melinda Gates will remain co-chairs and trustees of the Foundation in their names.
“They will continue to work together to shape and approve Foundation strategies, advocate for the foundation’s issues, and set the organisation’s overall direction,” a Foundation spokesman said.
Melinda, now 56, joined Microsoft as a product manager in 1987. They got married in 1994 on the Hawaiian island of Lanai, reportedly hiring all the local helicopters to stop unwanted guests flying over.
Bill stepped down from Microsoft’s board last year to focus on his philanthropic activities after having grown the company into one of the best known global brands and a good money spinner.
Unarguably, Bill and Melinda Gates are mega brands in themselves, with the media attention that greets almost all of their actions. However, they are super mega brands together. The ‘twin’ brand is so strong that whenever ‘Bill’ is followed with ‘and’, 99 out of 100 will readily complete the noun phrase with ‘Melinda Gates’. Is the unbundling of this ‘super mega brand’ another positioning gimmick by hedge funds as being muted by some analysts, a first in the slew of billionaire divorces as muted by others or just a parting of ways of a transactional arrangement concluded in 1999? Or is this just a flight to freedom in consonance with Akin Adeola who “sees no illogicality in an action taken in furtherance of mutual happiness?
Marriage is not a shrine where you are sworn to worship all your life. It’s a legal contract you freely enter into with a mortal like yourself and are at liberty to walk out of if the union is no longer palatable. The option of divorce is what ensures that marriage does not become a life prison where people must be chained to their sufferings and miseries till kingdom come, a veritable living hell. Many thanks to Henry VIII, King of England and defender of the faith, who helped to demystify the Roman Catholic enforced ‘marriage as prison’ concept. We are free citizens or aren’t we”?
Whichever way lies the answer, the Gates brand is likely going to wax stronger.
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