Alabdallah vs FPM, compare and contrast

 

To be very clear, I am not saying they did, I am not saying they did not. The below ad goes back to 2009, the above is now on the streets (apparently Alabdalla sells chicken sandwiches). It just dawned on me it is the same person behind both ads - 16 years later. File under compare and contrast. I will need extra garlic for this one.

Elections 2022: FPM goes for a unified campaign

The FPM which is running (along with allies) in all regions, has opted for a rather quiet campaign, rather "non-tailor made" for each candidate. All of them seem to be going with just a simple logo (the FPM logo along with 22), and nothing but the name of the candidate. 

Their central line is "we have... and we will remain". Is this a slogan of resistance? Defiance? 

Well, I guess at this point many people have lost their faith in the tayyar (as the FPM is called), since they actually held the majority in the parliament (again with allies) and had the presidency all to themselves and the results have been somewhere between disastrous and lukewarm. Do note, it can also be a matter of bad luck as well, since the financial crisis was waiting to happen, and the port explosion simply happened under the president's watch - it could have been anyone else as president, you know. Note that the president (and the FPM people at large) did not make it easier on themselves with him uttering classics such as "he who is not like the situation, let him immigrate" or the "lemon doubly" (originally lamentably) which he uttered in his speech and the "all the way to hell" snippet.

At this point though, politics in Lebanon is incredibly convoluted so - disappointment or not - people will vote either because they are convinced, or to the highest bidder on their ballot.

Elections 2022: Chamel Roukoz - waking up with the house on fire.

OK, so this is a complicated story. Chamel Roukoz is the son in law of the president of the republic. To be more specific, he is the "other" son in law (I am not sure how the family does Christmas dinner, considering how Roukoz - who splintered from the Free Patriotic Mouvement - and Gibran Bassil (who heads the FPM) are at odds, while Roy Hachem who is married to the third Aoun daughter (Mireille) manages OTV the television that is the mouthpiece of the whole movement).

I did say it is a complicated story. Which bring us back to Chamel Roukoz. "My honor is to my country - first and foremost". I think Roukoz is playing on his past as army officer with their tagline "honor - sacrifice - loyalty" or he could be saying his first allegiance is to the country rather than a specific movement. Or am reading too much into an ad that has little to sell (no offence to Roukoz most others have little to sell as well).

Elections 2022: Lebanese Forces reveal their campaign, too little, too late.

The Lebanese Forces launched the revealer of their campaign - a little too late (already explained how Khat Ahmar hijacked it and how it became a meme on social media!), pity - if you take off the silly element of teaser/revealer which ruined the whole campaign, there was indeed a novelty element there.

The campaign actually very thinly rebukes its competitors, but it IS addressed to those who already vote for the Lebanese Forces. Let me explain one of the billboards goes "we can protect the identity" (a wink to the nationalist speech of their rivals the Free Patriotic Movement), "we can procure light to the country" (a direct reply to Minister of Energy Gerban Bassil - also head of the FPM - who was minister for too long and did not bring electricity at all), "we can achieve justice" (a reply to the Future Movement which has riffed so long on the idea of justice for slain Prime Minister Rafik Hariri), "we can build for the youth" (which answers Hizbollah and its campaign "we build and protect" (which I elected as best party campaign in the 2018 elections)).

Sadly all this comes too little, too late. The campaign is already a laughing stock.