On a warm afternoon in a Lagos living room, three siblings huddled around a phone, adjusting the volume as a rhythmic voice filled the space. The melody sounded ancient, measured, poetic, reverent. Yet no praise singer had stepped into the room. The praise chants had been generated moments earlier by artificial intelligence.
Within seconds, their mother’s name was woven into a flowing chant celebrating her as a nurturer, protector, and pillar of her family. She looked up in surprise, laughing softly as the praise continued. What began as curiosity quickly turned into quiet delight. For her children, it was meant to be a surprise. For her, it sounded unexpectedly familiar, like the praise songs she had heard growing up.
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In a country where mothers have long been honoured in proverbs, songs, and praise poetry long before social media tributes became fashionable, a new campaign by Indomie is attempting something unusual, merging artificial intelligence and human interaction to speak the emotional language of culture.
For the 2026 edition of its Show Some Love To Mum initiative, the household noodle brand has introduced what it describes as Nigeria’s first AI-powered cultural praise platform. The platform allows Nigerians to generate personalised folk praise songs dedicated to their mothers, blending artificial intelligence with indigenous storytelling traditions.
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At its heart lies a simple insight: appreciation resonates most when expressed through familiar cultural forms.
Across Africa, honouring mothers has long taken poetic shape. Among the Yoruba, the tradition of Oríkì celebrates individuals through rhythmic praise that recounts lineage, virtues, and ancestral heritage.
Mothers are often described metaphorically as wúrà — gold — and as custodians of family memory. In Igbo communities, sayings such as “Nne bu ndụ,” meaning mother is life, capture the depth of maternal reverence, while celebratory chants honour women as the emotional anchors of the household. In Northern Nigeria, praise singers practising Wakar yabo have long extolled women as uwar gida, the pillar of the home.
Long before hashtags and digital timelines, these traditions served as living expressions of gratitude.
Indomie’s campaign attempts to translate that language into the digital age. Through a dedicated online platform, users upload photographs of their mother, enter her name, select a cultural language, and instantly receive a customised praise-song video inspired by Yoruba Oríkì, Igbo celebratory chants, Northern poetic traditions, as well as praises in the English language.
The digital keepsake, available for download for one month through the campaign website, www.indomie.ng/showsomelovetomum, blends technology with memory-making, positioning artificial intelligence not simply as novelty but as a tool for cultural continuity.
For a brand whose marketing has consistently leaned into family connection, the initiative represents an evolution rather than a departure. Last year’s AI-powered Mother’s Day campaign earned strong recognition and awards, revealing what company executives describe as a powerful emotional response from Nigerians eager to celebrate motherhood in ways that feel both modern and culturally authentic.
This year’s version expands that idea by placing culture, not technology, at the centre of innovation.
“In Nigerian homes, love is rarely silent; it is sung, spoken, and praised,” said Temitope Sule, Brand Manager, Indomie Instant Noodles. “With Show Some Love To Mum, we are not simply using AI as a tool; we are teaching technology to carry culture forward. When innovation reflects identity, it becomes more human, and that is where true connection lives.”
Providing further perspective on the campaign’s urban resonance, Ibrahim Isah, Regional Brand Manager, Lagos, explained that the initiative reflects how modern Nigerian families now experience culture across digital spaces without losing emotional depth.
“Lagos represents the meeting point of tradition and innovation. What we are seeing is that young Nigerians want to celebrate their mothers in ways that feel contemporary but still rooted in identity,” he said. “This platform allows culture to travel at the speed of technology while keeping its soul intact. When people hear their mother’s name woven into praise poetry, it stops being advertising and becomes a personal moment.”
Marketing observers say the campaign reflects a broader shift in brand storytelling. Rather than simply broadcasting messages, brands increasingly create participatory platforms where audiences help generate meaning themselves.
For Ebere, Regional Brand Manager, South-West, the initiative resonates strongly with longstanding cultural traditions of praise and storytelling that remain deeply embedded in the region’s social fabric.
“In the South-West especially, praise poetry is more than performance; it is memory, honour, and emotional storytelling passed across generations,” she noted. “What Indomie has done is reinterpret that tradition for today’s families, ensuring that even in a digital age, children can still speak the language of appreciation their parents instinctively understand.”
In an era when artificial intelligence is often associated with automation and efficiency, Indomie’s experiment suggests another possibility: technology as a custodian of culture rather than a replacement for it.
By turning algorithms into praise singers and smartphones into vessels of heritage, Show Some Love To Mum reframes innovation not as disruption but as continuity – a modern chorus carrying forward one of Africa’s oldest messages of gratitude: honour your mother.
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