The faster pace of advertising goes bothways

Re-O-Vac slogan from my collective memory series celebrating collective memory

Whereas I am talking about the Lebanese advertising scene, this could apply anywhere. Did you know that the same commercial on Lebanese TV could run for 3-4 years. No, no, I am serious. Yes? Re-O-Vac? AF7? Alico? This is how these ads became staples in our collective and individual memories. As I look back at them (and now they are present everywhere on the net) I cannot deny their charms, but as Ghida Younes asked me back when she was hosting "baddak totla3 3al television?" as to why we remember them fondly even though they were not "award-winning" (ughh that word, again!), it is because we do not remember the ads per se, we remember what they remind us of.

"Picture it" no, not Sicily 1922 to misquote Sofia Petrillo, but Beirut (insert any date - which most likely coincides with the 1975-1990 war), no matter which shelter or political/geographical side you were on, you saw, repeatedly, the same ads over and over again. The frequency of the media buy must have coincided with "anything" happening in your life. The timeless Ghantous w Bou Raad jingle - which again ran so long that when Voix du Liban (Sawt Lebnan) initiated its "greatest radio ad" competition, it made it "hors concours" as people voted for it year after year - was there when you fell in love with that girl having coffee at the neighbours, when your child was born, or when the major explosion happened which may have killed a dear person in your orbit, or more luckily that you have survived miraculously because you decided to leave the balcony and go inside to drink. No, all of these are not invented, but I am pulling all these events from lived-in situations or what we call in the advertising world "slice of life".

They happened. And they happened to people I know. Perhaps the immediacy of the remembrance might not be there, but it is authentic and correct this much I assure you. But all this is linked to longevity, the same ads running over and over. Kronenbourg Beer, which apparently still exists in Lebanon, will always be linked to that day when my village was bombed constantly during the war and we hid - along with cousins - in the small bedroom in the house all the day. Sure, Kronenbourg ads ended up vanishing but not after taking the enormous space they occupied prior on the airwaves.

Today, the whole landscape is different. A campaign is lucky to make it to four months before vanishing. Newness, immediacy, and otherwise built-in obsolescence is at the heart of the advertising/marketing industry. "On to the next" as the late Karl Lagerfeld would say once a fashion show ended. Immediately, there is something "fresher", "industry-shattering", "people-grabbing", "talk of the town material", and here I am repeating those hollow words that get churned in press releases which get thrown at us from agencies left and right. Perhaps they believe what they say, perhaps they are desperate.

At around Christmas 2024, an agency sent me an ad. One of those run-of-the-mill things. The PR girl said "this is an important one, don't miss on it, people will remember it years from now". I emailed literally saying the ad is boring and it will be forgotten once people glance on it. I was indeed right. But all of these "activations", "campaigns", or whatever format everyone keeps producing, are going down the drain.

Is it because people now want "fast things"? Is it because clients are running after "relevancy" and "coolness"? Is it because because ad agencies are trying to justify exorbitant budgets or retainers? It could be any of those, or all of them. But the end output is the same.

Now - let me ask you an existential question - and this, sorry for my non-Lebanese readers - is quite specific to my compatriots...

شو بطاريتك؟

Penrex, the ad that never was

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

I am often asked why is it that I collect old ads. People simply do not understand that the ads in question are the concentrate of our collective memory. A few days ago a youngster from the village asked me that same question. My answer was "Chou battariytak?" he instinctively answered "Re-O-Vac" (here). So I asked him "do you know that the last time this ad was on TV was about 1981-82?" "no...." "were you even born back then?" "no...." "see, this is our memory as people, as Lebanese, and you know about an ad that last aired before you were even born!". Josyane Boulos is doing a tremendous effort online (here) to revive old ads found in her archives - interestingly, the ads are mostly in her and her late father Jean-Claude Boulos' programs on Tele Liban (such as Malaeb). Like any collector with a mission, I have a lot - and I mean a lot - of ads.

During the pandemic I made it a point to watch 3 hours of Saudi Television archives on youtube to save the ads that were being broadcast in Lebanon as well at the time (80s television mind you). Perhaps you do not know but one of the most active agencies in Lebanon lost its archive when their offices were hit in Mirna Chalouhi center during the war in 1989, and another agency literally threw theirs in the trash. I once met with a major production agency of the time and the manager told me "yes, we still have the old ads, but don't get too excited, we don't have the machines to read them".

From my own archives, a few ads are still missing - Vegetaline, Jebran Metni, Benedicta, but most importantly.... Penrex! The ad, is still remembered by many, though nowhere to be found. The story of the ad is of a young man standing behind an uptight young girl in the bus. When the bus breaks violently the man bumps into the girl who is astonished! The young man immediately takes out the Penrex from his pocket to indicate that it was the pen not his - ahem - organ that actually poked her. The slogan? "Don't say pen say Penrex!"... If my recollection is correct, the whistle and the tune are both from the late Sami Clark.

But go find that ad. It is nowhere!