Yes bleach, or perhaps it is a no.

Photo credit Mohamad Haidar

Remember that idiotic ad Yes launched? (here). You don't? Because it was forgettable. Pity the days of Abou Fouad (Robert Helou who was incomparable - here) and the iconic Cosette (here) are long gone with the legendary 3 bi 1 slogan (so legendary I titled one of my books after it - here). And so Yes is a new streak of bland ads. Sure it says what it does on the tin - single message, price and that's all. But would you go to a store and ask for it? I doubt. And if you end up chosing it that's because of the price (remember, brand loyalty is out the window for the Lebanese, we are all very budget sensitive these days).

The ad itself has been bleached to death. Incolore et inodore.

AnNahar AI president? Great until things get real

So AnNahar introduced the first AI president for Lebanon. Look on the one hand this is a very laudable initiative in a country with no president, a caretaker government, and parliament which - well is not very active. In their own words: The new AI president of Lebanon has been created by training Large Language Models on 90 years of impartial journalism from AnNahar since the 1930's. It analyses not only the historical data provided through the pages of AnNahar but also current events, and formulates answers for all political, legal and government questions. By tapping into this vast knowledge base, the AI president has a deep understanding of Lebanon's past, as well as an unbiased perspective on the challenges that the country faces today.

Now, I am going to bypass the "impartial journalism" thingy because I know things that are not fit to print which might make one reconsider the term. But still, I can understand the hype and the innovative aspect of the operation. Good on them doing it.

Now, big question: Why not apply that to real life? I mean if you already did it in the abstract why not apply it on the ground. We already have the perfect president allegedly so let's go and just elect the "person" (note I am not specifying the gender - here's hoping!).

Which brings us to how murky the Lebanese politics is. I am often asked about the late Rafic Hariri and my answer is always that watching politics from the sideline in Lebanon is one thing, being involved in it is another. Hariri was a prime example of that - he was eager to join the Lebanese politics, until he did. And discovered how everything was a gigantic quid pro quo - every project, no matter how beneficial to the population became a quagmire of profit-sharing, every this, that etc.... Which again divorces the theory of politics from its practical aspect.

Actually the word politics stems from Greek - polis and ethos: polis is the heart of the fortress and ethos is ethics. So the word basically means "the ethics of living in a community", which basically does not account for the former and current and most likely future politicians in Lebanon. But still, here we are. 

In a post dating July 16, 2015 I suggested the following about Abou Fouad, the (now sadly dead) face of Yes detergent:

So there, Abou Fouad goes to Washington, or rather Baabda.... Our household extraordinaire is exceptional in being cost-efficient, multitasker, a good council, he is diplomatic, has a million tricks up his sleeve. And frankly, between the available options, I says "yes" to Abou Fouad (pardon the pun!)... The campaign is on ladies and gentlemen!

Alternatively we could always have... (image dated May 24, 2014)

Yes has a new ad, and it's idiotic

Well, Yes (the detergent) has a new ad. That's the good news.

The bad news? It's idiotic.

All right, all right. It is colourful, it displays the products, it aims at all the Lebanese factions, it is a bit old school. And it is still idiotic sadly. The idea of the ad is that "Em Elias" and "Em Hussein" (mother of Elias - her first born - and mother of Hussein - again her first born, both a Christian and a Muslim - specifically a Shiite) live on the same floor of a rustic building (one is veiled, guess which?). They go out to hang the laundry, look at each other defiantly (in a good-natured way, obviously). And respectively tie an apron, pick a Yes product and do the cleaning. 

The only redeeming element is that Elias and Hussein (well, presumably them unless they have brothers) are cleaning the hanging wires under the supervision of their respective fathers. Which at least, implies that men do things around the house as a non-sexist gesture.

Anyhow, the ad ends with everyone crossing their arms triumphantly for a job well done. Which brings us to the idiocy. The whole ad is nicely shot (OK, the jingle is annoying but that is just me perhaps), it is quite colorful (there is a hint of Almondovar there - in terms of colors, balcony angles etc... If you know, you know) but is so totally forgettable. A little like doing an ad by algorithm.

We are far from the Abou Fouad literally iconic efforts (Robert Helou, the man playing the part passed away in 2018 - here) and whereas the new ad is nice to see, it is truly disposable. See the ad here.