Lebanon and the fallacy of good news

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

Forget the extremely intelligent, even-handed, objective and as usual incredibly smart analysis by Mohammad Ibrahim Fheili, who completely nailed it (which he always does) - here. Realists have no place in Lebanon, they are called defeatists. And yes, I have been called so before many times - among other meaner, harsher, less impolite words (but that's a different story for a different blog post). But here's the thing, Lebanese people may be sectarian, divided, hold deep hatred towards each other, but each of them is - within his/her own logic - incredibly optimistic (see here for a sample).

But the Lebanese need any good news coming their way. Not matter if true or not. We are not doing well no matter whose side of the events you hear, because everyone is now hyping their own (fan) base and trying to tell them that they were right all along, and victorious all along the way, and that their (ever-shifting dogma and alliances) were the real and correct ones since time immemorial. Remind me of this in the next parliamentary elections please.

But it's summer and AC bills are killing everyone, the political climate is suffocating, no one knows who or what is responsible for anything. A lot of things go unsigned in ministries, logistics are hanging by a thread, no one is confronting their inner trauma but again - this is why everyone is desperate for a win. Somewhere, somehow. Direct flights (or talks of them) resuming between Lebanon and the US are one such consequence.

And our president being in the US and hosted by their president seems to be the perfect opportunity for that. Optics are everything and we Lebanese are very good at twisting them the way we want. I said it before and will say it again, Bill Farrell did utter "there's no truth in Beirut, only versions" (please note this has inspired by installation "no truce in Beirut, only virgins" - here).

Father's Day ads - some effort was made

So Father's Day, which technically is today, came and went with very little interest. Well, maybe the word interest is misplaced, as many - too many - brands simply just plastered "happy father's day" with some discount or special offer. 

Very little effort was deployed, which made those who tried something - anything really - stand out from the crowd. Above are some of the rare examples who dared. We have "BAM" an app which showcases events and activities - to be honest the cake is a bit of an oddity but it was interesting enough to make you look at what the app does... Middle East Airlines has a nice take on their raison d'etre - "to the ones who carry us all our lives" (the pilot with his two kids just in case you didn't get the innuendo). Dubizzle cars, attempted an incredibly difficult feat: Inserting their product inside the ad. Something most brands try to do but fail. The line "to the one who gifted me my first car". Smart and touching indeed.

But it was Wooden Bakery which takes the cake. Pardon the pun. The idea? Celebrating "al ab-tal". "Ab" in Arabic is father. Abtal are heroes. All right, the English version does not work (they made it into superfathers - which makes the joke go stale). And indeed they offer cakes in the shape of superheroes (Superman, Batman, etc....). Well, omitting the fact that the others did not try this year, this one does stand on its own merits and is a great ad.

So voila, not a vintage year, but clear Wooden Bakery tried. And it worked.