Byblos Bank is peddling a new campaign to get US to fund the survival of the Cedrus Libani (never mind how much money they rake a year and they want US to pitch in). Well, what is odd about the campaign is that they portray how Lebanese have exported their own culture but failed to preserve their national emblem (the cedar - please note, there is a question mark as to the cedar on the flag because of the strong biblical connotations the Muslim MPs were against it when the flag was being drawn so much that the Christians said that the Cedar should touch the higher and lower part of the flag because it is being "irrigated by blood". Implicitly this was just a move to stop the cedar from being shrunk in later editions of the flag to the point of "extinction" - sorry for the pun).
So according to the ad we had exported the concept of TURKISH coffee (but now it is Lebanese), of the Manoushe (a delicatesse shared by the whole region), of Dabke folkloric dance (which may or may not have been inherent in our culture since the whole Arab region has a variant to it), and failed to preserve the cedar.
So here's the deal - we went on a war against Israel because they tried to appropriate Tabboule and Hummus (chickpea mash), but we claim that Turkish coffee and dabke are ours against all logic.
By the way cultural ethnic specialists agree that the best way to preserve a culture is through sharing it. The best way to preserve the cedars is for BANKS with deep pockets to pay for such campaigns.
Now pay up Byblos Bank!
PS - the ad IS well done though! Hehe "ma tesghare" is Russian is a master stroke! And "bsome" in Chinese....
1 comment:
Em yuriiiiii hahahahah
Post a Comment