Monday, September 29, 2008

Skynet - Back to school with a twist

Let's face it, social awareness messages in Lebanon are stiff (Although, and this is a side remark - I can recall the "Stiff records" T-shirts in the UK... "If it ain't Stiff, it ain't worth a f***K) and boring. So to have such a witty, smart ad (And one which does not ask for your money) is a welcome change. Skynet, who actually deals with express delivery and all such matters (www.skynet.com.lb) comes up with a back to school ad which portrays Karim (You average Lebanese schoolboy) who is sporting his enormous backpack with the headline: Karim is not imigrating... He is going to school. And as a subheadline: The weight of the school bag must not exceed 10% of the student's weight. The ad is remarkable because Skynet is not selling anything in it (Unless some genius parent would want their child's school bag sent over by express shipping everday to his or her school), but it is a true social awareness message which comes as uninterested as anything. The small downside is that I have specifically emailed Skynet for a copy of the ad more than a week ago, and I still have no reply... Could it be that the only thing they deliver fast is their "express services" rather than the replies to their emails?

2 comments:

Rami said...

I don't know how you translated the name of the kid, but as I see it written on the billboard it's Karim and not Walid :)

Concerning Skynet, we're not used to having socially responsible companies here in Lebanon! And that was one nice move from them indeed.

Tarek Chemaly said...

Dear Fadi (Sorry, I mean Rami, I am used to misinterpreting people's names obviously :) )... I will correct the post. Thanks for pointing out the error. Tarek