The army celebrates its own day

 A hand offering roses to some soldiers, small children waving flags to the armed forces, and... Tactical forces in the battlefield? Obviously the third is typical army choice. Because the first two, tenderly and cutely fall under the same concept - people celebrating the army. No matter "81 years and "the country" for the country". Confused? Well, "watan" in Lebanese is euphemism for anyone in the armed forces. But it literally means "country". So the double-entendre is there, alive and kicking. I believe this is done internally as with all their latest works. 

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Ksara - Army Day

Leave it to Mink to come up with a good Army Day ad. OK the copy is very good but very expected. A part of the national hymn - "our plain, our mountain, birth to men" (please don't start with the sexism thingy, thank you). Now "plain" hints to Bequa'a plain where Ksara is from. That's bonus marks. But what took me aback? Instead of rows of grapes to make the wine, look closely and... these are soldiers aligned. Yes I know, a literal translation of "birth of men" but it works very well. Smart, very. Finding a way to include the product both in copy and in visual without going tacky? Seriously, how cool is that?

Army Day - 80 years in dignity

As someone who has, for several years, produced the Army Day (August 1rst) ad, I can assure you, it is difficult to come with different executions when the implementation and the brief is so narrow. This year, with the armed forces celebrating their 80th, their ad seems classic. A flag, on a blue sky background. I remember the years where everyone and anyone was putting camouflage on their products in their ads to for Army Day producing a horrible panoply of visual atrocities. Thankfully, these days are gone. And as someone who has done his military service as an officer, the ad sends a small frisson in me. "For you, we are ready for anything" says the line. Again, sometimes going back to basics yields the best results.

Wilco - Army Day and chicks!

So today was Army Day... There was a time when anyone who was anyone would do an ad - just insert camouflage and you are home safe. But bit by bit with budgets being what they are and the crisis being what it is, brands have held back. Which is why it is rare to see "ads" for Army Day. These day just a small gesture with an army logo would suffice. Enter Wilco - which does chicken products (and yes, I am a client of theirs). Where does one begin with the infamy. Sure they included the army slogan "honor, sacrifice, loyalty"... Added the camo... On the chicks!!! Wow, that was something. I really though that late afternoon meant that we passed an uneventful army day, but Wilco thought otherwise. Or did they think at all?

Ksara does a good ad for Army Day - and yet am ambivalent

Ksara has been doing excellent ads with the help of Mink - their army day leaves me a bit... ambivalent though. Is the ad good? Yes. It used the bottle corks to create the illusion of a "barricade" which the headline "we are all your barricades" supports for further explanation. Is it on-brand? Yes, because it is tough to use brand elements inside advertising for other brands, something done in brio in this one. But.... something about the ad is bothering for a full generation of people - like me - and in a country where we have lived successive wars and traumas there is something very "triggering" about the ad. I could be stretching it perhaps, but seems other people who saw the ad feel the same way.

Lebanese Army - nice army day ad with a conceptual flaw

Well August 1rst. Army Day.

Lebanese Army has issued an new ad - and full disclosure, since I was part of an agency that did such ads for years I can tell you they are difficult since you need to come up with a new concept yearly. The new ad is nice - here's the idea: On the "border" with the enemy, in the air, by sea, in every region, in every street, in every alley, wherever the border is, honor/sacrifice/loyalty, without border.

Is the ad good? Yes. Is the ad conceptually flawed? Very. Here's why - and this is something I have been taught at military school during my training as a lieutenant in my military service: The army should only be on the border of the country. This is why we have "internal security forces". Now, for a very long time the army is now inside the land, and it became accepted de facto as such, but this is not part of their original mission - at all.

So "wherever the border is" is unfortunately wrong. You can watch the ad here.

Army Day ads proved how bad the situation is in Lebanon when it comes to communication

I am still reeling at the Army Day ads. But perhaps I should not be, it was all too predictable.

I previously wrote about 27 atrocious ads for Army Day (here) well, make that 36 (there's still more but again arranging them in squares of 9 gives a neat number). Just to be clear, I have nothing against kitsch. Kitsch is defined as something "considered to be in poor taste but appreciated in an ironic or knowing way" - well, not be stereotypical but think of all those over-the-top decors from Bollywood, or these trucks carrying odd decorations in the driving cabins and so on and so forth. You know, put simply, kitsch is something that is so ugly it becomes beautiful.

The problems in the ads above that they stopped at the level of ugly.

You name it and it doesn't work. Design that is supposed to function but does not, copy that is supposed to be witty but is idiotic, product placement that is supposed to be interesting but turns out overriding on the event, ads that should not have existed but do.

Who is to blame? 

The clients? For ordering such ads. For approving them. 

But they need to remain visible and what is a better time than the Army Day for their brand to be seen. And as I explained earlier (here) - their budgets are so tight that they need to cut corners when any corner can be cut.

The designers? For doing such sophomoric work.

But they need to eat and pay their bills, be they freelancers or in agencies. Most of the time their salary is just pittance as either clients are too stingy or go for the cheapest offer no matter the quality of the result.

The public?

But they are uneducated, and all they do is just put 🔥 emojis on Facebook or Instagram posts by brands as they scroll aimlessly on their phones to fill the boredom.

Surely, all of them are at fault, individually and in a combined way. But all of them are relying and feeding on each other opportunistically - no one is demanding a better ad because no such ads are supplied, and no one is supplying better ads because everyone is content with the mediocrity they are being served. 

So it becomes a vicious circle. With most talents having left the country - understandably so - and with the few remaining here working on gulf accounts from the Beirut agencies, and as mentioned above - with everyone trying to squeeze the money on all levels, the only people available are basically third-rate talents, producing mediocre ideas with silly copywriting. Mostly concept-less ads which think of themselves as too right-on-target. 

Remember what I said above about kitsch? Had these ads been kitschy they'd have been in on the joke themselves. They would have known they're bad - and purposefully so - and therefore would have stretched the joke as far as it goes. But no! These ads actually think they are smart, they think that those tasteless or previously done gimmicks are actually worthy. In their own scope, they think they produced an cut-rate ad which would would otherwise have cost them a bundle.

Do note, you can produce an exceptional ad for zero money. I can think of this beautiful piece of poetry by Leo Burnett for Exotica (see here). But then again, few have the creative strength to produce such an ad (here's looking at you Bechara Mouzannar and co.). 

And if the Army Day proved anything - apparently such people are now extinct in Lebanon.

27 atrocious ads for Army Day in Lebanon

"Now is the winter of our discontent" said Shakespeare, well, make that the Army Day of my discontent said Tarek Chemaly.

OK, I could have reviewed all the above ads alone - there is more than 27 - but the figure seemed right as they fit in collages of 9 after I took the time, energy and patience to cut the ad into squares. Mind you I think I inserted more time, energy and patience than anyone who contributed in whatever shape or form in the ads above.

Their quality is abysmal. Honestly, the level is above and beyond hopeless.

Sure sure, some of them show a glimmer of hope in the hands of more capable people, but by and large the amount of mercantilism, illogic and otherwise uncreativity is simply astounding. 

Where do we start? Do note that I did not even review them individually but lump summed them all together because - it's not worth it. That simple. From megabrands to micro-ones from multinationals to local companies, from actors to photographers to make up artists - all of them failed the test. All of them did not have the decency to shut up but rather inserted badly photoshopped ads and copywriting which would make me scream had it been offered to me.

The play of word "watan" (which doubles both as country but also in slang as army) is used, overused and abused. The play on word on how to pronounce Jaysh (Army in Arabic) is too cringy - there are too many culprits above to count. That feeble attempt to insert the army in the product line the companies are selling is just a level above (or is that below) idiotic - hamburger? Sushi? You name it and it has been dipped in army sauce.

Oh and spare me the errors - a brand is claiming the army is "keeping our settlements safe".

Settlements? Settlements! Settlements.

But hey someone else called them ninjas so why not? To go on describing this level of absurdity is just pointless.

Seriously, what is there to say? I honestly think this is sad.

Cedars cigarettes special packaging for Army Day

Source

There you go - in one of those who-thought-about-this? and who-approved-of-this? And is-this-even-real? kind of line of questioning, Lebanese Cedars cigarettes (which is experiencing an incredible boom because it is the currently the cheapest cigarettes in the market as imports' prices soared) has actually issued a special "not for sale specimen" for Army Day complete with camouflage and what have you.

You know in Arabic they say with irony 'law el habal bi wajje3" (if stupidity hurts), well, then add stupidity to cancer and all other warnings found on cigarette boxes. Smoking kills, and whereas stupidity is not know to kill directly, I am not sure what to make of this.

Interestingly the stickers cover "smoking kills" which is a violation of Law 174. 

However as I rummaged further, it turns out this is not a single incident. I have found cigarettes in packaging celebrating Labor Day, or the day Liberation (May 25th). The proof is in the image below.

Source

Ksara - Army Day in brilliance

Army Day came and went without a whimper this year, thankfully. For a while, any company that could dip anything in camouflage did so and bragged about it. Which makes the low key Ksara ad "teslam ya Askar Lebnan" (may the Lebanese Army people be preserved) even more punchy. The line comes from a popular song, so nothing new there, but the trick was finding that KSARA and ASKAR are anagrams. Cue, just flip the logo. Easy? Yes. Smart? Without any doubt. Why it took so many years to find it? No idea. Note the Ksara logo is so well known, that the ad did not need to be signed.