Monday, April 14, 2014

Dying for your sins ad(d)s up.

The whole of the advertising market has gone festive it seems. Easter ads - be they relevant or not - are all over the place. Let's examine the exhibits:
 Kurban Tours is playing on "Easter break" - which apparently "breaks the routine" and not just the traditional Lebanese egg challenge (whereby tops and bottoms of rival eggs battle it out until a winner is declared).
 And here's one with a wink for the expats. The "nezlin 3al eid" is a reference to how people saying "we're coming down to Beirut for the holidays" - yes the airport carousel is behind in case you did not notice - and it's for the special offer for the unsalted Smeds butter which is used for the "Maamoul" (the traditional Easter cookie in Lebanon).
 Which brings us to Lurpak - for the same reason. "Maamoul" technically means "done with" (or "done at" depending on the sentence) - the ad says "ma3moul 3al oussoul" ("maamoul as it ought to be done" but also "done the way it ought to be done"), there is quid pro quo as to who used the gimmick first if Lurpak or Hallab (in 2011, when the duality was discovered, the agency behind Hallab claimed they were first in a targeted campaign in the north, whereas Lurpak has used it nationwide - though who started it is still vague).
 OK, so this is what Douaihy did "everything taste is ma3moul/done here" and although I did not manage to get the ad so did Kayrouz Bakery ("this is how it is done at Kayrouz" - heik ma3moul 3ind Kayrouz). The Douaihy visual though is a massacre, and the tic-tac-toe is - no idea what it is in the context.
 Keeping in vein with the ads that don't quite make sense, here's a Kia offer just for Easter. Apparently the link is "obvious" - either Jesus used it as a getaway car (on a super chase with the Romans) or - if anyone has better ideas please let me know.
Yeah, and as for everything, there's a movie - except with this one we know the story - he was dead then he got better. I wonder if a disclaimer will accompany the movie as it did with Noah though.
And there is even a religious even "Come Alive"...
And a less religious one "Humping bunnies and sexy chicks"... So there's everything for everyone this Easter! Well, it seems he didn't just die for your sins but also brought in his "wake" (sorry, misplaced word) a whole industry of commercialism to.

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