Vivad - Labor Day ahoy!

Ah that was an unexpected one. 1rst of May, Labor Day. Vivad went with a mix of professions (OK, fine no blue collar ones but one cannot demand too much I guess) only for this to culminated in a Labor Day ad. Which is actually a bit cute (Happy Filmmakers/ Developers/ Bankers/ Pilots/ Lawyers... Day, then Happy Labor Day). As I said, it does lack the - you know Happy Taxi Drivers/ Forklift Operators/ Builders/ Bakers/ Seamstresses Day. Still credit where credit is due, it does work for whatever its intended target audience.  

Cosmaline pulls an IKEA for Labor Day

Remember that IKEA Bahrain "same but in Arabic" thingy (here)? Well, we just had ours with Cosmaline. In French they say "faute avouee a moitie pardonnee" (a confessed thin is half-forgiven), but this one is funny. On the official insta account of Cosmaline (here), you have the full exchange between Aida and Vanessa (the graphic designer) whereby Aida asks for a Labor Day message, but only after Vanessa had sent a missive that she was off for Labor Day. Aida cops to her mistake if you want to know. All in jest, all funny and damn it much better than anything Vanessa could have come up with!

Labor Day: Am I unemployed? It's complicated.

Source

So yesterday was Labor Day, which begged the question: What am I to celebrate? Am I - gulp - unemployed? Actually, it's complicated. Sometime in 2006 I was working as an advisor to a professor at a very reputed university in Lebanon, the professor in question looked at me and said "you know you are on your way to become unemployable. Not unemployed, unemployable" - and of course she saw what I did not see myself at the time - I was swiftly disentangling from the classical "work". You know, the one everyone moans about - inside companies, on a very strict timetable, etc, etc... What was I replacing it with however? Well, unbeknown to me, there was a different equation being set up.

When I shifted from regular (read "classical") work, I went on to morph to become more and more as a teacher and consultant. Sometimes I dabble in naming, logos, strategies, run of the mill conceptual copywriting, etc. Sure, if you are reading this you know me via my "public image" (the blog, maybe also the art), which was kept very aside from the main money-making business (many people suggested I entangle both but I still think this will not be "me" as I insist on keeping the two entities separate). 

Of course, in the meantime, I was stashing money on the side, but with Lebanon falling apart at the seams on all fronts - all the planning and very wise money-management all came to naught. All of last year, save for a two very small projects (one of them was supposed to be humongous but got killed by the Corona) there was nothing. The Hollywood film did not materialize, and the project in Oman died with the Sultan - both where supposed to be exceptionally lucrative.

Still, here we are this does not answer the question: Am I unemployed?

Well, to misquote Star Trek: "it's jobs, Jim, but not as we know it". So yes, I do not consider myself employed in the way people expect employment to be, and having left my teaching job in 2019 because it became more cost-effective to remain home, it does not mean I am out of the game (seriously, if you only know how many theses I am involved in behind-the-scenes you'd faint), but again: What works for me does not work for anyone else, am fine thank-you-very-much. So I indeed still employed but not in capacities that people associate "work" with. 

So I did celebrate Labor Day. Not that I did much though! Wait, isn't that the point?

Almaza - Labor Day

Ah labor day, with unemployment soaring (estimated at 55% though could be higher, and those still working are actually doing so for a pittance), Labor Day comes in Lebanon this year with a sour note. But well, a beer is always welcome - whether working or not. And if working, to quote almaza, "hang in there".  Well, at least the weather seems to have gone summer mode today, but again, between Corona and soaring prices not sure anyone is really excited to hit the beach (am talking private beaches are the public ones are too far and in between now!)... 

USJ delivers the perfect Labor Day ad

USJ did a home run this Labor Day.
As in "home" run. It visited its employees quarantined at home, trying to work with a backdrop of babies, toddlers, housework, dogs, and the other "joys" of being home while trying to do one's work. Watch the film here. To be honest this could have been a disaster filled with overacting, pompous situations and what not - but no! The employees deliver with panache, and portray the usual "technical" problems with gusto (upside down camera?) and come away winners. The last frames "because responsibility is not tied to a desk and because nothing stops you, a big thank you for you at home" is truly brilliant.

Chateau Ksara strikes a perfect tone on Labor Day

You know those patronizing, tone deaf, haughty, and top-down ads that companies bombard us with? Thankfully, Ksara made a human, genuine, and totally credible ode to its workers on Labor Day. Everyone is struggling in Lebanon, and not just the workers (see here!), but in the ad, the casting is honest, everyone is oblivious of the camera, and at 22 seconds the perfect antidote for those long (and honestly annoying) ads.