Taqaddom makes itself known.

And then out of nowhere I saw this as I was browsing online. The "this" in question can be found here. Taqaddom dubs itself a "Taqaddom is a democratic progressive secular party working for social justice & sustainable development." Apparently the even have a member in the parliament (Mark Daou). All right, I admit, I am a bit disconnected politically so this has passed me by. Their ad centers around the issue of one... "One people. One army. and 1700 and one" (except in Arabi it rhymes). The 1701 in question is and am quoting from Google "Resolution 1701 (reaffirming the earlier Resolution 1559 from 2005) called for the disarmament and disbanding of militias and called for an embargo on the sale or supply of arms and related material to Lebanon, except as authorized by its government." So voila, yes, was not expecting this but maybe other people were? Who knows in the fragmented political landscape in Lebanon.

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.

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.

Lebanese Army goes into post-elections campaigns mode

So the Lebanese Army played cut-and-past collage from elections advertising campaigns. Interesting.

They picked words from several different campaigns, used them as collage to subvert their meaning. What was dividing messages became unifying. I can exactly pinpoint the campaign these coming from, take the example below:

The words "dawle awiye" comes from Sawa Li Loubnan, "fina" comes from the Lebanese Forces, and "hahmi" is from Hizbullah. Mix them together and you get "we can protect a strong state".

The other two ads read "we are the backbone of civil peace" and "we are the heart of the country" (this third one seems to be the cover of the Al Jaysh (the army) magazine because it says specifically - issue 431, 37th year, June 2022). 

Visually, the ads are quite pleasing - considering I have always been a sucker for collage this is totally my visual preference. What intrigues me is - the timing! Usually the army goes on an advertising blitz near August 1rst - which is Army Day. So considering we are very far off from this date, it is strange they are doing this advertising exercise at this point of the year specifically. 

But then again this could simply be an ongoing exercise with TBWA\Raad which apparently handled the assignment.

Lebanese Army stresses independence for Independence Day

As someone who used to do ads for the army, I can tell you this is something difficult. To do ads this good is a whole other level of difficulty. You see, to portray sacrifices can sadly be a bit cliche. Easily, and sadly, emotional. The Lebanese Army ads this year stray away from the usual, while keeping the dignity element in tow. And yes, these are real uniforms of actual soldiers. And to clinch the whole thing conceptually, the tag goes "independence is the protection of the independence" stressing of how remaining at Bay the military institution can fulfill its role. A very good outing indeed.