From around town....

I have not done the usual tour of ads in town for a while now, and here's some of what has been missed...

 Let's start with this anti-corruption campaign. A good example if any of a horse drawn by a committee (which ends up a camel in case you didn't know). There are simple ads and simplistic ones - this clearly falls i the latter category. But hey, if the gazillion sponsors are happy, who am I to argue?

 And then there' Cortas which does not often dip (sorry, a pun) into ads. "Behind every great table is Cortas" - and they you have it, the cans of the products sold by Cortas (chickpea dip, etc....) show from behind what is supposed to be a curtain. I guess they ought to advertise more to establish a pattern.

 Why is it that every time I look at this ad I get disgusted? A shoe made from veggies and healthy foods? All of it courtesy of Diet Delights. I know it's supposed to entice you to "take a walk inside" (the store) but - for me - it disgusts.

 Let it be known, I love retro sunglasses with huge frames. So the last thing I would want would be to "unshade" that woman in the Eva Atallah ad, with this horrible art direction and messy layout. On the other side of the giant board is another ad for her tattoo and make-up course which makes the first facet seem civilized in comparison.

The flower market at least knows its audience - it does appear tacky but I am sure there have been ooohs and aahhhs - for this one "we want flowers not destruction" (perfectly rhyming in Arabic as "badna azhar mich damar") - the flip side of the board shows a version with a small boy wearing a military helmet by the way (I guess small boys are more inclined towards "damar" rather than girls attracted by "azhar".

Ah! The classic example of an ad done in English only to be redone in Arabic for a pan-Arab market. What works in the GCC ladies and gentlemen appears - at best - corny in Lebanon. The lingo does not work, the words do not resonate, and the copywriter has to redo an English ad (I think in English it is "taste the brightside") which in Arabic became "live it with a shining taste". As I said, corny.