He gets us: Turning Jesus Christ into a superstar

Here, here and here.

Jesus Christ! No no, that was supposed to be an exclamation not invoking the client. "He gets us"...

I know it shot to superstardom during the Super Bowl with their ad - but now that the whole campaign is on display... How perfect is it? Exceptionally perfect.

For an unperfect client - but granted - judging on the merits of the ads they are.... exceptional. Sure, the strength of the campaign lies in that its "execution" is rudimentary - images which circulated over the net for a long time, most of which we are familiar with because we saw them on repeat on several websites, but this does not diminish their strength or impact once held together in a string before the central message comes through.

As I said "he gets us" might have supported controversial issues, but if you look at the campaign in and for itself, it is a brilliant act of.... kindness, acceptance, civility, and simply being a decent human being (which lately is too much to ask!).

Well, this could be the most perfect campaign - for an imperfect client, granted - but you seldom know what your multinational is doing when it advertises for you. So judging by the ads alone, I get them!

Lebanon: The impossibility of cantons via the Georges Cordahi debacle

Bilad Ma Bayan Al Tunnelayn - Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

OK, so how many times have you heard it before? Too many to count. Lebanon, according to the idea, would be divided into cantons - much like Switzerland. Considering it was called "Switzerland of the Middle East" it seems fitting - har har (though anyone who has read my writings knows that I do not subscribe to the notion of "golden age" - see here).

The drill is simple, each sect (not religion, sect) would have its own canton. I guess the Shiites would take South Lebanon, the Druze would settle for the "jabal" or mountain, and - not sure where the Sunnites would be, but guess we are talking "west Beirut" and/or Akkar. Well, depends who you speak to, the "Christian canton" would either be called Marounia (in reference to the patron saint of the Maronite Christians - or St. Maroun) or "Bilad Ma Bayn Al Tunnelayn" (country in between two tunnels - ergo the Nahr el Kalb tunnel but also the Chekka tunnel, in a very fitting riff on "bilad ma byan al nahrein" - country in between two rivers, or Irak. The suspicious origins of the sentence seem to go back to Patrick Chemali - no relation - but 1) I have never heard him say it 2) I picked it up elsewhere). 

But, naming aside, there's one very big glitch.

Switzerland is a neutral country, all cantons have decided not to take any sides when it comes to their foreign policy. Try applying this to Lebanon and then let me know.

Latest example? The George Cordahi, former TV personality and currently minister of information in the present government. Apparently, in his private capacity as a citizen last August Cordahi expresed his view that the people of Yemen were defending themselves, something that goes against the leading narrative of Saudi Arabia. Cue: everyone went up in arms either defending or condoning Cordahi.

Remember, the views Cordahi expressed were his own, as a citizen. Granted he is a known as a media personality (and an "investment specialist" see here). Actually, Cordahi - with all due respect to his stature is nothing but a small chess pawn in a much complicated game - the bigger question is: How much are our current politicians, journalists, and TV personalities subservient to the Gulf rulers?

Because this is what is causing the rift. To test how much Lebanese politicians and journalists are ready to bend backwards to accommodate the official narratives of the Gulf countries about their stories and policies (or rather whims as things seen to happen and then thought about later when consequences arise).

So much about being neutral.

White Horse Whisky ad: a proof that times have changed.

"Hope

Hope is the greatest gift God has bestowed on man - for without it life would be dry, cold, with little pleasure or attraction in it, and the Mutanabi was correct saying in his poem - 

How difficult is living without the space of hope

But man is known to have difficult times and challenging moments whereby he feels sad and alone and feels hopeless and how hard it is to lose hope

For such times there is nothing like a glass of

White Horse Whisky

The tasty whiskey that is good for health"

There - if anyone says Arab nations have not gone through cultural and religious shifts, the exhibit above, from a White Horse Whisky is enough to tell you they did. The ad dates back to the 40s of the last century and again, perhaps, I am overdrawing conclusions but one cannot but feel how such an ad would not be permissible today. As a matter of fact, I was seeing ads from Saudi Arabia dating back to the mid-80s and was astonished as to what was allowed then. Women without hijab on television, women being shot walking full-bodied and showing faces, objects moving on their own and aliens in a Gulf Oil ad (by aliens I do mean outer space visitors not foreign nationals).

For a comparison let me tell you this story. I will try to be vague about the details out of respect. Anyhow the automotive company was launching a sporty car which was a variant of one of their best selling models. I came up with "rou7 el horriya" as a slogan (the spirit of freedom). When the client came and we did the presentation his face turned crimson from anger which contrasted heavily with his white dress. We knew there was a huge problem. He composed himself, tried to take a breath and said: "this is an inanimate object, it does not have a spirit. And in this country, we do not include freedom in the titles of the ad".

There you go.... Times do change.