Blog
Awesome New Ad by Gandour
In 2010, our favorite candy factory, Gandour, renamed their perhaps most famous product formerly known as the “Ras el Abed” (Slave’s Head) to “Tarboush,” thus putting an end to the racist connotations garnered by the delicious chocolate treat. One of their new TV ads, directed by Chadi Younes, caught my attention today. Check it out:
A bank employee( actor Bernard Borkhosh) asks the client (actor Chady Khoury) about his name and birthplace, you know – routine questions – until he asks for the customer’s mother’s name. At this point, I was almost certain we were about to witness some classic sectarian scenario we know all too well in Lebanon – where people are asked a million questions about their whole life if their name isn’t a Ali or an Elie to passive-aggressively find out the person’s religious background.
Well, I’m glad to say my inclination was totally wrong because as the ad continues, we find out this is all part of a game the banker is conducting with his colleague (who happens to be the young actress, Esther Campbell who previously appeared in Touch’s brilliant text and talk ad last year ) called, “Insan, Hayawan, Chay'” (Human, Animal, or Thing). The game essentially involves finding a word for a name, animal, thing, country and type of food that all begin with the same letter.
We’re very happy with what Gandour has been trying to do for the past couple of years, especially with this TV ad and the launch of their new slogan for Tarboush : “Never grow up.”
A step closer to Tarboush’s new identity and a step away from its racist history. Hooray!
A bank employee( actor Bernard Borkhosh) asks the client (actor Chady Khoury) about his name and birthplace, you know – routine questions – until he asks for the customer’s mother’s name. At this point, I was almost certain we were about to witness some classic sectarian scenario we know all too well in Lebanon – where people are asked a million questions about their whole life if their name isn’t a Ali or an Elie to passive-aggressively find out the person’s religious background.
Well, I’m glad to say my inclination was totally wrong because as the ad continues, we find out this is all part of a game the banker is conducting with his colleague (who happens to be the young actress, Esther Campbell who previously appeared in Touch’s brilliant text and talk ad last year ) called, “Insan, Hayawan, Chay'” (Human, Animal, or Thing). The game essentially involves finding a word for a name, animal, thing, country and type of food that all begin with the same letter.
We’re very happy with what Gandour has been trying to do for the past couple of years, especially with this TV ad and the launch of their new slogan for Tarboush : “Never grow up.”
A step closer to Tarboush’s new identity and a step away from its racist history. Hooray!