First the facts: Comparative advertising is banned in Lebanon (here and here as examples), so you cannot name the competitor directly (weirdly enough the links show it happened twice - it also happened directly with Brinol washing detergent when competitors were shown in the background clearly, but ad agencies reeled against this, this was when the law had just been immediately passed). The second fact is that I am smart - with tests to prove it.
Now Bellvie: The ad IS very smart but it had to have someone else explain it to me. Why? Because "Salim" a lovely Arabic name, was featured in the ad. Except that Salim and Slim (as in Slim Oil, the main competitor of Bellvie was mentioned in the ad) are spelled in the same way in Arabic. I know, I know, very smart. And to top it all, they used an Arabic expression that went "ask someone who tried, but don't ask a doctor" which was detoured as "ask someone who tried but don't ask Salim/Slim" (do note in Arabic doctor/7akim and Slim/Salim rhyme). All this while pointing to a guy who is supposed to be "Salim"... Because... Tadam, comparative ad is banned.
Yes that's a lot of explanation for an ad. I was still asking who Salim is, if you wanted to know!
