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Sunday, August 15, 2010

Training Day

smalvicNext you can “play” wash the balcony, “play” hang the laundry, “play sweep the floors, “play” clean the toilet,  “play” wash the dishes and if you’re very good you can “play” iron the clothes…. don’t forget to take out the trash….it’s so much fun!

11 comments:

  1. hahaha..good idea! If only it worked that way..but then, what would Lebanese mothers do? I think it is too revolutionary a thought to handle..Children, doing CHORES? What are chores anyway? ;)

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  2. Lebanese kids don't do "chores", but then is this kid Lebanese?

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  3. @A Bare Truth, one of what? a kid or a stove? :)

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  4. Im sorry I totally disagree with your post. Cooking is not chores its an ART just like painting.
    A message to all blogs who talk about ads: please stop criticizing for the sake of criticizing.
    i agree there are thousands of ads to be criticized but not this one

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  5. Criticizing ads is an art form on its own :)

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  6. A criticism that is not CONSTRUCTIVE is not an art.
    This is not an in-depth and professional analysis of an ad.
    This is just throwing sentences about any obvious meaning that the ad conveys.
    This criticism does not see for instance the parallelism between the little girl and the oven.
    It also fails to see a REALITY: little girls DO play cooking. This is a cultural phenomena that has been going on since ages and the ad is just picturing it. So if you were to criticize something, than criticize the oven game makers that sell those sort of toys to little girls. But here you will also have to criticize the 'mechano' game makers. You don't want your son to become a 'mechanicien' do you?

    Irony put on the side, Im not trying to be aggressive and it is true that the ad is somehow stereotyping little girls, but I dont think that its purpose is to 'enslave' women.

    There are many blogs in Lebanon who criticize ads 'this is ugly...this is offensive...this is too sexy...'. I think it would be much interesting to make an in-depth analysis of those ads and go beyond a simple line of critique: how is this ad impacting my society, why was this ad made? what are its downside but also what are the good sides of the ad, how is advertising evolving in Lebanon, are the people setting the ad trends or the contrary, how strongly are we affecting by globalization...there are a million topics that can be tackled.

    By the way Im writing this because I like your blog and wanna see it go further and grow and distinguish itself from the other 'ad' blogs

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  7. Dear Anonymous,
    Thank you for your comments. They are always welcomed and appreciated. The commentary you read on this blog is mostly offered with humor and sarcasm. On occasion, there are bits of serious commentary but not often. There really isn't much in the way of in-depth analysis(beirutNTSC.blogspot.com does this well). Beirut Drive-by serves as an archive of sorts for Lebanon's billboards. The count is at +500. If this ad commentary is the first one to hit a nerve with you, then so far, so good :) Hopefully most advertisers are happy to know that their billboards continue to be available online well after they were seen on our highways not to mention having the chance to be viewed by an international audience that includes Lebanese expats and advertising professionals.

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  8. Thanks for your replies
    I agree with you on the last point.
    Most of the times, the only way to trace back an ad is through ad blogs.
    Brands and advertising agencies are not granting the ads a decent exposure/ archiving.
    By the way if you care about international viewers, why not ask them to send you 'Lebanese' or 'Arab' ads shown abroad (Lebanese products targeting Lebanese in their second country such as canada or the states)
    Would be really nice for us to view new things since we are being literally brainwashed by the ads here and frankly we memorized them all.

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