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| Artwork by Tarek Chemaly |
I am often asked why is it that I collect old ads. People simply do not understand that the ads in question are the concentrate of our collective memory. A few days ago a youngster from the village asked me that same question. My answer was "Chou battariytak?" he instinctively answered "Re-O-Vac" (here). So I asked him "do you know that the last time this ad was on TV was about 1981-82?" "no...." "were you even born back then?" "no...." "see, this is our memory as people, as Lebanese, and you know about an ad that last aired before you were even born!". Josyane Boulos is doing a tremendous effort online (here) to revive old ads found in her archives - interestingly, the ads are mostly in her and her late father Jean-Claude Boulos' programs on Tele Liban (such as Malaeb). Like any collector with a mission, I have a lot - and I mean a lot - of ads.
During the pandemic I made it a point to watch 3 hours of Saudi Television archives on youtube to save the ads that were being broadcast in Lebanon as well at the time (80s television mind you). Perhaps you do not know but one of the most active agencies in Lebanon lost its archive when their offices were hit in Mirna Chalouhi center during the war in 1989, and another agency literally threw theirs in the trash. I once met with a major production agency of the time and the manager told me "yes, we still have the old ads, but don't get too excited, we don't have the machines to read them".
From my own archives, a few ads are still missing - Vegetaline, Jebran Metni, Benedicta, but most importantly.... Penrex! The ad, is still remembered by many, though nowhere to be found. The story of the ad is of a young man standing behind an uptight young girl in the bus. When the bus breaks violently the man bumps into the girl who is astonished! The young man immediately takes out the Penrex from his pocket to indicate that it was the pen not his - ahem - organ that actually poked her. The slogan? "Don't say pen say Penrex!"... If my recollection is correct, the whistle and the tune are both from the late Sami Clark.
But go find that ad. It is nowhere!