Ras Al Houssan - Ramadan time

Well, the 90s called and they want their ad back. Ras al Houssan is back into the saddle (no pun) to offer us a pre-Ramadan ad (notice the lantern and the hanged moon etc). "from one generation to another, the taste does not differ" (yes, it is shorter and also rhymes in Arabic). After a fiasco (here), one which is better (here), Ras al Houssan is continuing its blitz of ads. To be honest, considering its end target audience the ads is not bad. Old man drinking tea after the iftar etc. And even the line is also appropriate even if honestly this style of "rhyming" dates back to the 90s. At the end of the day, and this is something Mohamad Haidar spoke about, the digital part is so totally misaligned with the OOH, which makes this a bit confusing.

Budweiser, the Super Bowl, and Pegasus

Budweiser, which tanked in sales to the tune of 9.2% (well considering its sister brand Bud Light went down 24.6% that's no biggie after it displayed an ad for trans model Dylan Mulvaney in 2023), is now back to its American roots. Featuring nothing but American "icons" in their ads. A horse, an eagle, famers in caps and obviously Pegasus. Pegasus who? Well never mind, there is just this horse with an eagle on top of it jumping over a log - wait, the best part? The "I'm not crying, you're crying" comes when the farmers go "“You crying?” one asks. “The sun’s in my eyes,” says the other.

I am sure Kid Rock is not shooting any more Budweiser cans like he did in 2023 after this the Mulvaney ad. And so here we are. I need however, to give credit where credit is due with the brilliant "made of America" final line. Not made in America, made of America. That's one brilliant move here.

Now ask any average American about the name of the winged horse and then come back to me without having "the sun in your eyes" from laughter.

See the video here.

Waba, Arabic elements to the power n.

I admit I was not even aware the brand existed. Waba - a high end plates and cups - think Villeroy et Boch but make it Arabic designed and styled. When it comes to Arabic culture, they have it locked down for sure. Not just the dishes, or the sahara, or the camels - interestingly they went for a Chevy Caprice rather than a Toyota Hilux but I digress. The abayas, nikab, deshdasha, cultural items to the power n. But what separates the ad from the lot is the way it was done - everything static, but not so, everything moving to the music, but again - not so. Very precise gestures, a suave moving between frames. Blink and you'll miss it (a round object is followed by a round object in the consecutive frames, the back of a man becomes that of a woman, the 4 pieces of cutlery seen from above morph into 4 tables etc...).

The ad takes some time to get accustomed to, but seriously, the pace is impeccable.

See the ad here.

Zod Security vs Maybelline (compare and contrast)

Let me be clear the "prisoner trick" in advertising is nothing new. And giants like Maybelline take months to do their ads and adapt them to different markets and all. Which is cool and dandy considering the big ad space they took over. The problem is that the Zod Security campaign is still on their Dbayeh Branch as we speak. And yes at one point the campaign was prominent in the market. So doing the ad back to back while the Zod is still in town is a little confusing. Still, maybe they did maybe they didn't, you be the judge.

IPT diesel does a Fairouz trick

Well, IPT diesel does its own Fairouz. The lyrics, "in days of cold, in days of rain" taken from Fairouz's "habyatak bil sayf" (I loved you in the summer) were used by IPT to talk about their own diesel availability and delivery. Do note, a lot of Lebanese homes have diesel heaters (mine included) and yes, delivery of large quantities - depending on the severity of winter - is not unheard of (average twice a year). Apologies for the bad image quality but honestly, the ad is positioned above their Dora petrol station, you can't get a good shot while walking and you can't get a good shot from the moving bus on top of the bridge. So you'll have to trust me on this one.

Rodsons: Clear, simple and single-minded

"Rightly-done work needs the right tools".

There, Rodsons went back to the least common denominator and won accordingly. No fuss, no pretenses, no gimmicks, just simple and plain advertising. Basically they went back to single-minded - something a lot of advertisers forgot as of late. Because when you deliver a unique message rather than a plethora of jumbled-talk, you end up delivering an ad that basically sells what you are offering.

Now, I am not a handyman (though I did fix the shower  - thank you!) so I might not be the audience Rodsons is speaking to, but to all professionals and Do-It-Yourself enthusiasts, Rodsons might have a point.

Saudia - milk with dates

So apparently there is a new product in town. OK, here I am admitting to my ignorance - I had no idea Saudia milk was available in Lebanon (apparently, it is and their oldest post on their instagram page dates back to July 3rd 2025 - the link to the page is here). On August 6th 2025 was the first reference to the milk with dates advertised above (here). Which obviously brings us to the ad itself which is displayed all over. 

Well, no idea who the target audience is. Yes, I am aware people eat dates before breaking their fast during Ramadan. But does this go as far as wanting milk with dates? Maybe because I am not the one they are speaking to, I am not so sure. But honestly, this does leave me quite puzzled. 

Hajj Nasr, the kafta, and Sandwich w Noss

Remember the Sandwich w Noss campaign? (here) The campaign went on to compare itself (mostly in a funny derogatory way to other places) and it was, indeed, well-done. Now it seems someone mentioned in one of the ads is giving thanks. Hajj Nasr who was tagged in one of the original ads as "the best kafta after Hajj" (Nasr, implicitly) is actually issuing an ad that goes "you are full of taste/manners people!" and on facebook the following sentence "he who sees us with one eye, we see him with two, you engulfed us in your honesty".

Now, the Sandwich w Noss campaign has been gone for a while, so I am not sure where they found the original ad, and better,  where they found one underneath it to buy - as I am assuming this is a one-off thing (you did not hear it from me but this could either be AI or edited). Still, better late than never, especially with a good one.

Tele Liban has ads on the streets (please read this without fainting)

Tele Liban has ads on the streets.

Tele Liban has ads on the streets (repeating for emphasis). Honestly I am so pleasantly surprised - before you draw any conclusions - I have stopped watching television since 2013 when I got diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure was not recommended. But the news in itself is thrilling. After years, make that decades, of neglect, Tele Liban is advertising its new political program "The dialogues of the serail" with Nada Saliba. It is on Tuesday at 8:30 PM.

I read elsewhere that Tele Liban was also going to produce, again, a new scripted program - those same programs that made its glory for decades upon decades when until LBC showed up (August 23, 1985) it was the two channels of Tele Liban had the hegemony of the airwaves (or what was known as "Tallet el Khayyat" and "Hazmieh"). 

In retrospect some of the programmes with incredible pop culture cachet don't hold water by today's standards, but some others do survive intact. But all of this is a little like putting the cart before the horse - on the upside? This time around there seems to be a cart for the horse to push.

Omo is faster than... Take your pick

Well, take your pick people. Omo is faster than your coffee break/power nap/morning scroll/gossip session... Because it offers 15 minutes wash. There! Well, honestly, they do make sense, I mean even on a slow news day gossip sessions stretch more than a quarter of an hour. And if you are to take a coffee break, would you want to make it so fast? Speaking of power naps, in 15 minutes likelihood you might not be asleep yet, not because you are scrolling on your phone (although truth be told this might be!) but we are keeping that for the morning as per Omo. 

Well, their timing is correct indeed. #fastjustgotbetter says the tag, they might be on to something (intimate activities excluded).

Coffee means Nescafe - the cat is out of the bag

Najjar tried, really tied - among others here. But let us face it, coffee means Nescafe. Well, it's not like they are inventing it, but for a whole generation, the two words a synonymous. Nescafe simply said it out loud and shouted it out in the open. Sure sure, they promoting their own 3 in 1 (coffee, cream, sugar) which comes in sachets as far as I know. But that is beside the point, saying it as it is, basically, cuts all corners on the competition because well, it's not like they are lying or anything. Interestingly coming from a behemoth like Nescafe, the campaign was a little "shy" in terms of exposure. I did see it on several billboards but not exactly like if it was a blitz or anything. Still, now it has been said.

Ras Al Houssan - rectifies its aim

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Remember Ras al Houssan's earlier campaign (here)? The one where nothing worked? Thankfully they woke up and smelled the coffee, or smelled the tea, or whatever else their product range consists of. Well, also they smelled the "instant warmth, honey" (a wink to their Honey Ginger offering) and to the cold which is currently sweeping Lebanon all over. 

The previous campaign had nothing going for it. This one is focused, single-minded, with a clear, identifiable and quite and targeted message. What's not to like?

It's Her Way has a new horrific ad.

Here's a typical example of me supporting a cause but hating the ad. The latest It's Her Way ad - a movement about reintegrating mothers into the workforce - and one I support wholeheartedly, is actually somewhere between silly and horrific. In Arabic the proverb goes "the mistake of the good one is equal a thousand" - thousand is a bit low when compared to this "offending" (a word coined by a working mother who saw the ad) end product.

So the message is "let's lift the weight" and - yeah very creative - a weight has to be lifted. Honestly? I thought this was a redux of the Polo "small but tough" Terrorist ad (here). I thought she detonated the car herself or what not. But no, the "creative" is that we need to alleviate the weight thrown on her and basically stop her from losing 130,000 USD because she dared to become a mother.

See the ad here (if you really want to be offended).

Nepo babies unite: Use your parents as a springboard

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

Brooklyn Bckham? Yes the guy who drives McLaren P1 (of which 375 were produced - here) which I believe he paid from his "photographer" (here) job and his "modelling career" (here) and his "hot sauce" business (here). Kind note: Imagine your father is not David Beckham and your mother is not Victoria-posh-spice. Imagine not being born into wealth. Now imagine wanting to "divorce your parents" because you "do not want to reconcile with" them,  while assuring everyone that "(you are) not being controlled, (you are) standing up for (yourself) for the first time in (your) life." Actually Beckham-Peltz as he is now known continues his tirade and spills a lot of tea. The Peltz if you do not know comes from this wife Nicola - actor and director no less. 

Now, not to underestimate his financial wits, if you are going to divorce wealthy parents (as of today the Beckham parents are estimated to be worth 475 Million Dollars), might as well get adopted by even wealthier ones (Nikola's father is estimated to be worth 1.7 Billion Dollars). It seems that the new love nest Nicola and Brooklyn bought - estimated at a cool 16 Million Dollars - came directly from a trust registered under Nicola's name. That's one way to "blend" into another family "like Beckham".

Now of course, when your pictures are this "controversial" in quality and you still found someone to publish your book, when you make spaghetti in seawater (when abroad a yacht!) and still get youtube views, when you drive such a very rare car, and have a "hot sauce" under your name distributed on as many high end grocery outlets as possible. Maybe, just maybe, like when Princess Kate who happens to be an amateur photographer and who - in 2017 - was awarded an honorary lifetime membership and Patronage of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) a member of the public quipped "perhaps she knows someone".

Which brings us to her own brother in law - yes, Prince Harry himself (here). Funny, reports emerged that Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz hired Jenny Afia, a prominent British lawyer at the Schillings law firm who previously represented Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. But again, it is so easy to speak from a place of privilege. But seriously? Apparently even to "blend it like Beckham" might  not mean much as well, there is full disintegration there. I am still not in favor or hanging your full dirty laundry in front of anyone. 

Still, when you have over 70 tattoos on your body dedicated to your wife as Brooklyn Beckham-Peltz has (with her eyes tattooed on your neck), well, suddenly a 16 million Dollar house seems a small price to receive in return.

Can we stop about this 2016 thingy? #2016trend

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly based on "Riwayat Abir" (2016)

Unless you are Marcel Proust (or Karl Ove Knausgard whose novels I still have not read) then please, chill. One of the most reassuring elements of the past? Is that it happened. Sure, we can always reinvent it, reinterpret it, rearrange it, dramatize it, beautify it, and eventually twist it so that it won't be what it actually was, but one cannot do that with the future. Which is why the past has this snuggly feel to it - like a labubu? Is that even a thing in 2026? But I digress.

Sometime in 2022 I was talking to a fellow teacher who for some odd reason was showing me photos from his past in a European country. "1981 was an excellent year, on all fronts, career-wise and this is Heleine she came from Corsica" he pointed to a woman he was obviously in a relation with. Not to be mean, but I pitied him. I was thinking, this was a man with a family, earning a very good salary comparatively in Lebanon, his son about to get married, and he still speaks of 1981.

As Lebanese, we have the experience of how unkind life can be. Every day is an adventure, and I still hear people say "rizkallah 3ala eyem el 7arb" (my God bring back the war years - speaking about the 1975-1990 one). Well, I am not sure if this is delusion or what, but I do remember the "eyem el 7arb" and I honestly do not want them back - perhaps as the people who survived the said war, we can have the "privilege" or looking back, but those who died are not that fortunate for wanting the said days back.

Which brings us back to the current trend of 2016. No, 2016 was no special year in any way, shape or form. It was just a year, nothing exceptional happened in it - I kept on publishing books, I went to Amsterdam, I blogged, had clients, this, that. Would I want to have 2016 back? Honestly, no.

I have had my fair share of immense struggles since, but this does not want me want to live in the past. Or to be clear, a reconstructed past which never was.

Picasso d'Or 30th edition - brings little to no surprises

So the 30th edition of Picasso d'Or is among us, the results bring little to no surprises. On the bland side a lot of forgettable, annoying, boring campaigns made it to many top prizes. Smash by Force Majeure is a nice exception (here), Onetouch by Pimo ended up with a bronze (here) which is a pity but perhaps "digital category" stopped it climbing higher. The major out-of-leftfield winner comes from the splendid Toyota campaign by Memac Ogilvy Lebanon. Seriously how this did not grab a Grand Prix (which went to one of the most gets-on-your-nerves campaigns of 2025 if you ask me) is beyond me (but again, could be that it is a non-Lebanese campaign, which could or could not be understandable). So as I said, apart from some solid and worthy contenders Picasso d'Or stayed true to its irrelevant self.

Deek Duke gets burried in the snow - almost

Image source

Deek Duke is back after that influencer campaign yucky campaign (here). Now it is buried in the snow. Well, almost. So, what does the ad say? That they deliver under snowy conditions? That it is time to ski but not forget the burger? That is is better to hide your mouth but save the burger? Well, on the positive side we don't need to indulge in influencer idiocy, on the flip side, not sure how conceptual this is or how tempting. But as of late I have seen too many ads which are there without a concept that this just seems to be a minor addition to the melee. And so here we are, as the storm keeps pounding Lebanon, someone already is thinking about the snow.

On the deluge of bad ads I am seeing

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

I am honestly not sure what is happening but there is a deluge of bad ads I am seeing as of late. I cannot blame it on 2026 because these things take a lot of time to materialize and be decided and approved and even with AI which is making the process much faster in terms of execution there is always 17 opinions to cater for (including the CEO's wife or girlfriend or both). 

Of course my first reflex was "it's just me, little appeals to my taste" until a friend said (when I showed him one ad) "I didn't send it to you, I knew how viscerally you'd react". And then plugging a link to another friend with the line "how stupid can you be?" he sent back a voice message of how idiotic this whole campaign is, especially that we had seen that same scenario play on 18.578 ads since the 80s.

Does one blame the "creatives" (between quotes because they are anything but), does one blame those who approved the ads? I am not saying marketing department or what not because the level we are dealing with is anything from large conglomerates to smalltime companies where decisions are taken by owners.

Whatever it is, the result is the same, silly, forgettable ads, with no creative backbone to hold them or anything resembling strategy (considering one of the people who came up with one of the stupid ads I am speaking of said "come up with it yourself!" when I asked why there was not an Arabic selling line to an FMCG good in his student's final presentation). Of course what bothers mostly is the quantity considering the quantity is abysmal.

And here we are, a giant - and I mean giant - ad space space was booked for what is essentially something that is so horrific that it hurts the eye, Instagram is filled with AI ads that make absolutely no sense at all, but "haha" and "for the third year we are partnering with... (fill in the blanks)" - and worse comments filled with heart and fire and smiley emojis from - well the CEOs wife, girlfriend or both.

I am not sure how we got to this situation, but here are are.

"Now is the winter of our discontent," said the Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III) in Shakespeare's play. 

As I write this in the middle of a storm, I wish I was speaking about the weather.

Dunkin' finally rides the 67 wave (really?)

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OK, so it ended up happening. You know the 67 craze? The one that exploded last year and basically had a non-definable meaning? Yes, that one? Well, seems Dunkin' woke up and smelled the coffee (silly pun, I know) and here it is now riding the wave, a bit too late perhaps, but this is a case of better late than never I presume. Now, there are those who are glad that Dunkin' finally took the plunge and those - OK fine, me - who are too tired about brands just jumping from one hype to another when honestly all you want is that coffee to start your day (and those not diabetic like me, a donut with it) without actually complicating our lives and waiting for the next wave of approved (fake) hipness from the top brass.

I for one am tired of it, with brands associating themselves with literally anything that looks like a trend, or like a celebration, or anything "eventful" etc... It gets tedious and boring and brands end up looking "de trop" and very opportunistic.

Fairouz may be an icon but Nohad is a bereaved mother.

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

When Ziad Rahbani died, everyone and their mother went to social media to report about him, how he affected their lives, how they once crossed him on the street (and obviously annoyed him by talking to him when the man wanted nothing but obscurity), and the list goes on. But also, all cameras were on his mother, our national icon Fairouz. Anything she did sent people into a frenzy of analysis.

The woman is 91 years old, lost her husband in 1986 (and no they were not divorced as some people say), her daughter Layal in 1988, her son Ziad in 2025, and was also in the middle of a huge family dispute in terms of the authorship of the songs written by "the two brothers Rahbani" (Assi and Mansour, both dead now) and a life where she is almost not able to live normally following her status not just in Lebanon but in the Middle East as well.

Fairouz, accompanied by her daughter Rima, during the funeral and the condolences would try to be as inexpressive as possible but as I said above, any iota of emotion was incredibly well-dissected by people on social media, trying to interpret things which most likely they have no idea about.

And now Fairouz has lost her second son, Hali at the age of 68. The boy apparently was incredibly handsome but had a case of viral meningitis at the age of 6 months and grew up incapacitated. I read an article whereby Fairouz locked herself in the room for six month doing nothing but caring for the child, only when understanding that her true mission was to go out and sing and enchant people did she leave her self-imposed isolation. But also, it was said that she insisted on caring about Hali herself - which obviously, as she grew older and as he grew older as well must have been a challenge.

But Fairouz, born Nohad Haddad, is actually a bereaved mother and is suffering these losses with no private space to mourn, to grieve, to feel, and to reflect. Everything is happening with little or no privacy.

We all need to be away from the spotlight to assess the loss of loved ones.

Nohad is no exception.