Pepsi: The (obvious) choice of a new generation

And so it was bound to happen! Paul the octopus has to endorse one brand over the other. Allyson Stewart-Allen, director of London-based International Marketing Partners had already predicted that to CNN, saying: "A good use for him would be in adverts featuring two competing brands, such as Coke or Pepsi. Which does Paul prefer?" And this time Paul chooses Pepsi over Coke!.... I am not sure if this is the brainchild of local agency ImpactBBDO or some international adaptation (but then, if I can read what Stewart-Allen said, so can they! :) )... On all accounts, since we have become a species of a very short memory, in a few months' time this ad will not make any sense, so the genius of it is that they striked while the iron is hot.

Wake me up when September ends....

Artwork: Al Mehdi magazine, July 2009 issue.

I was once speaking about the war in Lebanon with my students, bit by bit, I came to understand that we were not speaking of the same war. I was speaking of the 1975-1990 bit and they were speaking about the 33 days in July 2006. To each generation of Lebanese its own war(s) it seems. In 2006, I was attending the Tin House Magazine summer workshop in Portland - Oregan when the war broke out. Instead of spending just two weeks in the US, I got stranded there for two months.
Actually, the resulting writings can be viewed in my book "Getting the news from poems" specifically in the section called.... Beirut/NTSC. Yes, originally the name of this blog was the name of a manuscript - mostly poetic prose - which I started in the United States.
I am sure you have heard from more than one source, the Israeli spy witch hunt taking place in Lebanon. Anyone from army officers, to people responsible for your cell phone, to public officials are proving to have collaborated with Israel (most likely giving it info of how to better murder us in 2006). But as I was attending a wonderful lunch at the Fanar auberge and restaurant in Tyre on Saturday, when I brought the topic of the spies up someone nonchalantly replied: "Yes, so what?" It pains me that treason has become merely a point of view.
In the art poster above, Al Mahdi magazine (which focuses on Islamic teachings - mainly Chiite Islam) boldly proclaims: In July my people have won. I truly believe thety have. And again, it embarasses me this is just an opinion. I cannot recall who was the official dignitary who was visiting the governmental serail and when he was met with a dark faced then PM Fouad Siniora he said: "I go to all Arab nations and they have lost in front of Israel and they all boast of how they won, and you are the only nation that truly have won and you seem to be negating the fact instead of rejoicing."
Going back to that wonderful lunch in the south hosted graciously by Katia and Walid Salha (owners of Al Fanar), beneath the insouciance of the talks and the joie de vivre of the bathers there lurked the dark whispers of a new war coming on in September. Such news, or rumors - be they founded or just hearsay - sort of stop us from making long-term plans, living in the moment and not even enjoying it. And it doesn't matter if we won in July 2006 or not, for September is yet to come.

Peel off a building and what do you get?....

... You get a full swastika!... The rate of demolition of buildings in Achrafieh is stagerringly high, I am not here to discuss urban planning or whatever, but when you peel off a building (next to Sagesse School) the deep old secrets of the past come creeping out. In this case, someone painted a full swastika (with laurels and all) on the innermost and invisible wall of his balcony (or perhaps room as walls of all buildings have been known to sometimes be the same). But now the secret is out - not that the person who perpetrated the deed cares - he must have gotten some fat compensation from a developer and moved to a bigger apartment in Mansourieh or wherever.... Now I wonder which buiilding in Mansourieh is currently being painted with a remannt of a regime long gone-by!

Wakanda - wow can do...

Newcomer production agency Wakanda Films makes a big splash for its entrance in the Lebanese advertising market... Already, working on stiff products can be quite tricky, but working team behind Wakanda (which includes director Lara Saba and DOP Michael Lagerwey) did a wonderful job for the Zwan Luncheon meat "Tfaddalo" concept. Not only they have enlivened an originally dull story board, but they actually made it lovely to see - Saba's casting and Lagerwey's handling of the Red camera shine as a combination. Apparently even the 3D effects were done in house.
Beirut/NTSC loves the "Tfaddalo" selling line (which roughly translates into "be our guests"), and knowing from experience how many conflicting opinions must have contributed to this (client, mother company, advertising agency, passers by on the street) it is a small wonder that the whole thing came out cohesive.... Now, rumors are being spread that there is a war coming in September, so you know what brand of luncheon to pick prior to going to the shelter!

The clash of civilizations....

Photo credit: Karl Zeenny
So El Sorrentino - an Italian restaurant - opens its Terrazza, and what do you get? An orientalist dream of a woman smoking chicha (or hookah) dressed in an Arab turban (hmmmm, OK, Italian fashion house Prada was trying to make it fashionable a couple of collections back, maybe that's the origin of it)... But seriously, Samuel Huntington should inspect this closely (not that his original theory was worth anything since his whole classification system was mismatched), never since the time of Emir Fakhreddine did Lebanon get so close to Italy. Now if only this made sense, any sense at all!....

Sisters are doing it for themselves!

First it was Helen Thomas who got kicked for her views from Hearst Media, and now CNN is firing Octavia Nasr over her tweet: ‘Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah.. One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot…’ Apparently both women tried to appologize explaining their motives for their declarations. They should have stuck with the original statements.
Anyhow, CNN is saying that "We believe that her credibility in her position as senior editor for Middle Eastern affairs has been compromised going forward." which brings me back to Glenn Grenwald's magnificent article in Salon on Christiane Amanpour: That phrase -- "pro-Israel bias" -- is a virtual oxymoron in such circles, because the "pro-Israel" position is the default position that is deemed "objective."
Yes, if you're pro-Israeli, anti-Palestinian, etc, then you're credible, but if you praise a cleric who frankly was avant-guard such as Fadlallah, then your position is compromised.
You go girls!

Zajal copycat

Thank you Karl Zeenny for taking the Home City photo... Which is an ad that is too close for comfort with the Nissan ad also based on Zajal (or traditional Lebanese singing). So from the above photos, we can deduce:

1- That Beirut/NTSC is paranoid seeing similarities where there are none.
2- That I am not being paranoid - just have a good assimilation
3- That the two ads have nothing to do with one another
4- That the Clementine ad is stolen from the other
5- That Clementine did some incredibly bad research
6- All of the above (no matter how contradictory)
7- None of the above
I am not sure of the correct answer, but for my money the conclusion is that although the zajal was used for a car ad (Nissan Sunny) which is different from Home City (furniture and home accessories) and although there is around 10 months difference btween the Nissan ad and the Home City ad, and even if the word play is a bit different ("Of, of, offre" for Sunny and "50% off, off off" for Home city) I cannot but scold Clementine for not noticing the Nissan ad (and the big popularity it raised). Or worse, for noticing it and copying it.
The jury is still out on this one, but no matter the verdict Clementine has serious issues - and to say that the uncle of one of their art directors' is Lebanon's most famous living zajal poet!....

Bil 3arabi el mchabrah....

I notice the cute ad by Smeds (cheese) advertising the draw for a car... "Are you living on a prayer?" it says, in Arabic however, the expression is "living on a chick and a dot" - which I think makes the presence of the yellow chick a bit redundant but the use of the family of an motorcylce (or even a scooter) makes sense are sadly it is a reality (minus the helmet as usually the child is used as an airbag in case of an accident and nevermind his death!)... There is another execution which portrays a girl stuck in a taxi next to a man who obviously thinks she is cute and she doesn't reiprocate.
As for the other ad, the one from BHV, I simply put it to highlight the major Arabic error in its arabic. La2ta is actually LAKTA (or good catch!).... So how could such an ad have gone to print with such a blatant error is beyond me, if that's her Arabic, then I wonder about the rest of her marital skills (and it seems you get a nosey mother-in-law with the package)... How enticing!

AISHTI/AISHIT

What you see above is my ex-loyatly ex-card from Aishti.You see, I have received a temporary loyalty card from the shop more than three years ago, and for me the word "temporary" means something in a state of being tansient until it becomes permanent. But I guess Aishti sees it more the Lebanese way, ex: "shop temporary closed for renovation" means "we are going out of business but too ashamed to admit it", or "road temporary diverted" actually reads "follow the sealine alternative route because this one will never open again." So after having consulted many times several Aishti outlets about the state of my temporary card, the ubiquitous answer was: "We are issuing new ones and upgrading our database." The drop that broke the dam came when recently I was attempting to purchase and item and the shop assistant litteraly laughed at the card - at which I snapped that "it wasn't for me to pursue you to get a new one! I have consulted you time and time again and you have done nothing!"... Still, I took it the civilized way and yesterday went yet one more time to an Aishti store explaining once more the dilemma. The assistant said, "We are issuing new ones and upgrading our database."
I kindly explained to her that I have heard this for the last three years and this is when she blurted the unescapable truth: "But sir, we don't issue (permanent) loyalty cards to just anyone!"... And there you have it, yours truly is not part of the Lebanese glitterati who have open accounts at the upscale store and spend fortunes there while scorning anyone who buys during sales (such as myself). Well, in French there is this new concept of consom'action, whereby every citizen or consumer does his own bit to speak against brands or save the environment or whatever have you.
So here's my own two cents (or much more than two cents judging by Aishti prices): If Aishti thinks that my business is negligible and unworthy of their attention, then I will act and chose to take my business elsewhere. Truly, what I said to the shop assistant summarized the whole situation: "It is not your fault" - indeed, she has been taught to deal only with the upper end of the market conforming to the sales strategy of the shop, but the fault was entirely mine for chosing to patron such an AISHIT.

Stars in their eyes

The new kafalat campaign is out from Byblos bank. Creatively speaking, it is a bit plain - in the same repertoire (but in a much better way) please check Nadim Zgheib's graduation project at USEK last year - but it was this execution that interested me the most. First let me tell you about the rest of the campaign - in one visual you see 6 coffee cups in a tray that can hold 24 and the line is "expand your business with up to 600 million LBp" same thing with a wooden basket contianing 6 apples but can hold much more etc... Then I saw this one: At first I thought it much better than the rest. Then the more I thought the more I realized that this one was off-brief. After all, what do you get when you expland a 2-star hotel? Well, you get a 2-star hotel with more rooms! Not a 5-star  hotel. So the quid pro quo that happened was the there is a big difference between "expand" your business and "unprgade" your business. But I guess it is none of my business all of this!

Shankaboot meets archewallogy

I guess I am the only blogger worth his salt who so far did not blog about Shankaboot but then I had nothing to add to everything that was being said I suppose. Yesterday however I had the perfect angle - what is Shankaboot meets archewallogy? Well, the result is obvious - four images of a kind - each taken on a different wall depicting the famous shankaboot. Only the delivery boy is missing!

Zena el Khalil glitters at Espace Kettaneh Kunigk

Zena el Khalil’s new solo show at Espace Kettaneh Kunigk which opened on Wednesday 30th of June and runs till mid August sees her on a return to her familiar landmarks – even the invitation card was customized by some girly stickers on the back of it – and the works themselves remind me fiercely of our Sri Lankese concierge’s pad: A cross between fake flowers, lots of feathers, sparkling gold vases, and deities galore. Nevermind that in Zena’s case the deities are more human and that the feather is pink and there are toys everywhere (our concierge has none I must point out).


Zena is still trying, like the rest of us, to grapple with those deep scars – for some they are still not scars but rather open wounds – that were left after the July 2006 war. The clues are everywhere in the works: Kalashnikovs, planes, pistols, etc…. And all the large works of the exhibition are actually based on a pamphlet that Zena found in the parking lot of the Universite St. Joseph (which was thrown from passing planes) and it shows Bashar el Assad (the Syrian president), Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (the Iranian leader), and Khaled Mechal (the head of Hamas) playing their flutes (Indian style) and Hassan Nasrallah (the leader of the Hizbullah) coming out of his urn saying “anything I can do for you?”

Except that in the paintings the situation becomes more peaceful, even anecdotal, with many male bodybuilders/strippers filling the space wearing Palestinian kaffiyahs – Zena’s own way of pointing out at the incomprehensible situation in Palestine these days – and the whole thing is dipped in the kitschiest sauce ever invented. Among the paraphernalia that adorned the works, I recognized many of those elements that wrap wedding souvenirs, christening and birth tokens, small doves that normally are found on chocolates distributed on occasions and so on and so forth.

The titles of the works are parts of lyrics of some known songs such as Bob Dylan’s Blowing in the wind or John Lennon’s Imagine. According to Zena who gave a special talk to Beirut/NTSC, “I decided that instead of the words that Hassan Nasrallah was saying in the pamphlet, I would just put an empty bubble and call the painting by the song that inspired it.” As for the title of the whole show “ou Ali mama3o khabar” (or “And Ali doesn’t even know about it”) Zena deflects the question. Pressing the matter and trying to find a link between the political undertones of the works and the Shiite religion, Zena once more declines to answer politely.

However, I still feel that Zena’s strength lies in the smaller format works which again see her embroidering, knitting, creating montages and small appliqué shapes – but in those smaller works she is able to dominate the surface with more mastery than in the bigger ones. Still, the whole visual effect is like a Barbie inside an Al Qaida training camp – lots of pink violence and cotton candy warfare. Good luck for Zena growing some thick scar tissue to recover.

Billboard for Saydet el Amal - Hadet and Saadet el Sama poster

Straight from Grace Kassab's desk come these two wonderful ads against drugs. One is a marathon which is called "Ijri bil hashish" (which double-means as: "kick the weed" and "have a stroll in the grass"). As

for the other, since it is organized by the hadath municipality, and the word in Arabic also means "let's talk", so Grace came up with "hadath wa la haraj" (talk without restraint) about the importance of anti-drug education. Great copywriting for such a sensitive topic!