Not Arab Culture
Check out this new Lebanese TV ad (link below) promoting ‘Lebanese Brew’ beer. I would love to meet whoever came up with the concept for this campaign and slap them. What in Heaven’s name are they trying to encourage the young Lebanese generation to do? What values are they promoting? Binge drinking? Consumerism? Breaking the law? Street fighting? Theft? Exhibitionism? Aren’t the Lebanese as a post-war community messed up enough with the remnants of lawlessness and corruption coming out of decades-long conflict where every single law was broken leading to chaos and a general disregard of the rule of law? Do they need a brewery to encourage more kids to drink and drive mindlessly?
We all watched The Hangover that could have inspired these moronic ads. We all laughed, the movie was funny. A hilarious film with wild events taking place in a society that is alien to Lebanon, that is not our own. Our youth’s image of cool seems to have as a prerequisite emulating Hollywood movies. The culture of the Hangover is not ours. Fullstop. We are Arabs for God’s sake. Like it or not, one can’t deny roots and history.
Grow your own identity, people.
Brigitte
Brigitte's Blog 
thats the best google could do!
(unfortunately / fortunately = depends on how well you read arabic)
تحقق من هذا الجديد اعلان تلفزيوني لبناني (الرابط اعلاه) وتشجيع البيرة ‘المشروب اللبنانية “. أحب أن يجتمع كل من جاء مع مفهوم لهذه الحملة وصفعة لهم. ما في اسم السماء أنهم يحاولون تشجيع جيل الشباب اللبناني ان تفعل؟ ما هي القيم التي الترويج؟ حفلة شرب؟ النزعة الاستهلاكية؟ خرق القانون؟ قتال الشوارع؟ سرقة؟ الاستثارة؟ ليست لبنانية كمجتمع ما بعد الحرب افسدت بما فيه الكفاية مع ما تبقى من الفوضى والفساد التي تخرج من الصراع المستمر منذ عقود حيث تم كسر كل قانون واحد مما يؤدي إلى الفوضى وعدم الاكتراث العام لسيادة القانون؟ أنها لا تحتاج إلى مصنع الجعة لتشجيع المزيد من الأطفال للشرب ودفع بغفلة؟
شاهدنا كل فيلم The Hangover التي كان يمكن أن تستلهم هذه الإعلانات مغفل. ضحكنا جميعا، والفيلم كان مضحك. فيلم فرحان مع أحداث البرية التي تجري في المجتمع الذي هو غريب عن لبنان، ليست خاصة بنا. صورة شبابنا للبارد ويبدو أن لديها كشرط مسبق ليحاكي أفلام هوليوود. ثقافة صداع الكحول هو ليس في مصلحتنا. Fullstop. نحن العرب في سبيل الله. شئنا أم أبينا، لا يستطيع المرء أن ينكر الجذور والتاريخ.
تنمو الهوية الخاصة بك، والناس.
Thanks for this attempt at translating via google what I wrote. It has become quite a trend in Lebanon, my countrymen and women, from politicians to ordinary citizens, attack the person with the opinion not the issues raised. I raised an issue, I was fundamentally against the ‘brave’ ideas for behaviors advocated in the commercial. Please talk about that. I write a blog with humor, when I said I would like to slap the people who were behind the concept, you can understand that I didn’t mean that literally. In any case, I am glad this debate started about what is happening to Lebanese society, as my interest in the future of the country is immense and I am betting on the youth to guarantee its survival. We need to instill in them the values and the love of country that will make them survive as a cohesive unit despite their obvious differences. Diversity is healthy in principle, but here our identity is so blurry, we have managed to create a chasm in our society that would be very hard to fix in the future. I would encourage every Lebanese to read ‘les identités meurtrières’ (In the name of identity) by Amin Maalouf. It could be an eye opener. And yes, I am fluent in Arabic and other languages, this is what makes us Lebanese so special, not emulating the vices of the West. If there’s anything you want to import from Western countries, let it be defending human rights, women’s rights and the rule of law. This is what other countries are more advanced in than we are and maybe this is what needs to be emulated. Have a nice day, and again thank you for your comments.
Just tell me when, and i will gladly schedule a visit to our offices, and you can slap each and every one of the creatives that worked on this project, starting with myself! But that will not change the fact that the Lebanese youth we speak to do not identify with any of the concepts you speak of. They are not a “post-war community” and they are absolutely not “messed up”. And it is pretty sad, and actually rather “moronic” of you to conclude that all this campaign advocates is “Binge drinking, Consumerism, Breaking the law, Street fighting, Theft, and Exhibitionism!” Wake up and smell the burning rubber. Oh wait, the youth we speak of do not do that! But you seem to want us to identify with the “Arab” face of Lebanon. You see what i did there, it’s easy to take anything anyone says, and put it completely out of context! I tell you what, after the round of slaps, you will surely feel a lot better! Then, if you actually drink, we’ll offer you a cold beer and celebrate diversity!!! Thanks you, and good night.
The execution is a bit immature and clearly has no authentic background to serve the brand itself or the purpose of the campaign slogan. The idea of trying something brave is actually the ability to be drunk and fucked up without getting arrested, much like, not showing your genitals to your neighbors, and seriously? You had to break a leg to make an omlette!?
It has nothing to do with this “post-war” bullshit, or this “arab’s” got fucking talent impersonations of the western culture. Point is, simply being, that this concept could have had the potential but it got “slapped” with too much influence of stories which are authentic to the nature of its purpose, which is lacked here. Other than that, haha, it surely wont affect “our” youth, which is already beyond the concept of drinking and driving or chaotic rampages, a beer ad will not change a reality where already the youth are exploited to it all.
داتس وات شي سد
Yo can you write this in Arabic…cause English is too alien from my culture.
We are a multi-lingual culture, not a society that lives to clone other cultures. Thanks for your comment. 🙂
So we can be a multi-lingual culture but we can’t have different views on that same culture?