She's got Bette Davis cigarette: What to do about the past?

In case you have not heard, the company responsible for Dr. Seuss books, decided to discontinue publishing six of his due to racial stereotypes. Aunt Jemima is now rebranded as Pearl Milling Company. Pepe le Pew has been scratched from the new Space Jam movie due to his insensitivity towards the female gender (Penelope Pussycat). And the Muppets (yes, those Muppets!) are now accompanied by warnings of racial portrayals. And these are merely examples dating barely back to the beginning of the year.

I am not defending cigarettes, but the idea of Betty Davis without one seems - not just odd - inauthentic. Yet, when her stamp was issued in the US, guess what was missing between her fingers? Of course, anyone from Ronald Reagan to Bing Crosby did cigarette ads. "More doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarettes" - this alone is an ad that sends you chills. "Before you scold me, ma maybe you better light up a Marlboro". Look, Tom and Jerry had a lot of racial undertones and overtones (anything from full racial stereotypes to blackface). Breakfast at Tiffany's - let us to be honest remembered mostly for Audrey Hebpurn - had the otherwise lovely Mickey Rooney portraying I.Y. Yunioshi - an Asian character.

In the Casterman published "Martine", the little girl had a "doll" called Cacao. The doll was black-skinned. That Cacao ended up carrying Martine's bag is of little surprise. That she also cannot remember her name "though it is not difficult to remember" only highlights her stupidity. Do I go on?

Lebanon tends to specialize in this racism. Long ago, there was an ad which, to highlight how good a detergent was at whitening, saw the Sri Lankan maid put in the washer. We still have "sif el abed" (sif - or steel wool and abed - slave) with the appropriate imagery to match. Up until 2010, Gandour had an immensely popular product called "ras el abed" (head of a slave). A competition was launched to rename it and we ended up with "Tarboosh". But the original name still stands.

When Star Academy was immensely popular in Lebanon, there was a nightly program about what these youngsters did. All the Arab youth wanted to emulate them for sure. Still, in one of these nightly episodes, there was a cut of all the young men agglomerated and sharing cigarettes. When my brother called the person responsible for the program and complained, she answered: "Chou 3alei, ma ana bdakhen?" (What does it matter, I smoke too!).

Of course, the point I am trying to make is: How far back do we go? How do we "rectify" the past (because, at this stage, we are assuming the past needs rectification). Am I of the generation that saw Pepe le Pew and saw their mother use "Sif el Abed"? I am. Am I racist or do I harass women? I do not. Did I see my parents smoke like a chimney growing up? I did. Do I smoke? Again, I do not (but let this not be a "rule" like the woman responsible for Star Academy made it -  if it applies to her it applies to everyone else). 

Social norms changed, case in point? In 1989, my cousins were lighting up a hubbly bubbly, when my (male) cousin offered it to her sister she said: "Ana bint bte7terem 7ala!" (I am a girl who respects herself). Lately, with hubbly bubbly became a vogue item (which are much more harmful than cigarettes) I saw the said cousin preparing her own "narguile" (or hubbly bubbly). It ceased to become a stigma to smoke it.

And before we part. Here's a last anecdote. A student of mine was preparing her thesis about "metrosexual men". Then she told me that she had dinner with her boyfriend and told him about her thesis. Metrosexual men are men who, despite not being homosexual, care a lot about their appearance (clothing, manicures, etc...). She told me, in the beginning he laughed it off. Then at the end of the dinner he asked her: "Do you think my nails need a manicure?" Suddenly, realizing there was no shame in it, it became also socially acceptable to do it.

As morals change, how much should we go back? L.P. Hartley said: “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.”

Dear Lebanese, believe it or not, this too shall pass.

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

Well, maybe it is best to begin saying I am not exactly an optimist by nature. If I say so, it is because this post implies a large dose of optimism. But in the last few days, as I was researching a new art series I was working on - OK fine, one of 72 new series am working on - I came across footage from the currency devaluation of 1986 and 1987, which funnily an economist said it was the benchmark of the Dollarization of the Lebanese economy which lead to this current catastrophe we are currently facing with banks.

Long story short to quote "Throw Away Your Television" by Red Hot Chilly Peppers "it's a repeat of a story told, it's a repeat and it's getting old". Save for some fashion changes (and the absence of large barricades courtesy of the next door Ministry of Interior), the footage told me that things have not changed that much. People manifesting, trying to break into exchange offices, beating and smashing the signs of said exchange offices with a lamppost that was snatched from the sidewalk (I can estimate it is Hamra opposite the Red Shoe near what was then the Modca Cafe). Oh and there were military people trying to secure the Central Bank while failing to reason with people (that the salary of these same army people was in itself slashed to pittance tells you about their own confusion).

Sounds familiar? (OK, fine, save for the humongous barricades)

It does, this is 2020 and its "thawra". The anger, the disbelief, the helplessness, but also the bonhomie and that idea that such acts can lead to change (they did not back then, and so far, based on 2020 I see no change either). So where's the optimism bit?

Here's it is. My late father was a government employee whose salary went to three quarters nothing, we were three children who arrived basically back to back (I was the youngest born in 1974), all of us at school, all of us growing up, all of us on hand me downs clothing, all of us with distinct personalities, but also all of us with birthdays (and homemade cakes), and loves (sometimes the same loves, and I would tell you to avoid that), and friends, and teenage years, and films (my first was Jacky Chan's "Sword of Honor" at Sagesse movie theatre).

So why am I telling you this?

Because things went on, and the crisis (crises) was (were) overcome. We managed to survive in very tight times. Sure, I am not preaching some happy-ending story to be made into a film (though it would be nice if Thimotee Chalamet played me), the point is: Even that very bleak time actually tended to end. Was it trying? Ask my parents and their ubiquitous daily Tranxene 5 mg or their chimney-smoking Marlboro (tehrib - smuggled). It would take them forever to kick both habits (OK, to save money they switched to the local Cedars cigarettes at some point though).

You still cannot see the upside of the situation, can you? I do not blame you, the situation is indeed bleak, but revisiting that footage, oddly, reminded me - not of an economy collapsing and savings squandered and day to day hardship - but rather of sunny summers, of cousins living in the upper floor, of outings to the CMC (Club Mountain Cubs) every night, of a blossoming teenage love and of songs played on Pax Radio (as music blasted heavily from the Arabic Jabal Loubnan station from the neighbors' own boombox).

Yes, after a while, what seemed like heavy burdens appropriate for your age tend to ease up, which for me back then centered around a horrible math teacher (no wonder we tend to look at the past with rose-tinted spectacles). So, in several years, the deadly pandemic coupled with an economic crash and a major fear of losing our money stuck in the bank and the wonder if I will be able to secure my mother's medicine, all this will vanish.

And this too shall pass.

Marlboro and Baalbeck - the oddest tie-in in history

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly based on a vintage ad

Remember when Marlboro tied itself to Lebanese oranges? It was certainly one of the oddest tie-ins in all history. But hold my beer, it seems Marlboro continues the same campaign with tying their cigarettes to Baalbeck columns. "In the whole wide world, these columns are the symbol of Baalbeck, in the whole wide world, the symbol of cigarette quality (is) Marlboro". Yes, I know...

Marlboro and Lebanese oranges - the oddest tie-in of all history

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly based on a Marlboro ad

So there, this happened! Marlboro tied itself to the Lebanese oranges as a symbol of "quality and flavor" - I am not inventing this, the original Marlboro ad proves it. This seriously beats all tie-ins in the history of advertising tie-ins!