Impact BBDO Dubai and Loto Libanais on April 20 launched an ad campaign originally promoted under the Twitter hashtag #GoodByeBadLuck in an attempt to increase participation in the country's national lottery.

The idea was centered around the notion that black cats bring back luck and that Loto Libanais was going to do the Lebanese a big favor by getting rid of all the black cats in the country and shipping them off to New Zealand. Thus, the bad omens would supposedly be gone and the Lebanese would once again start to believe they actually have a shot at winning millions of dollars (...but lies) in a contest of luck where the odds are clearly stacked against them.

Can I please disguise myself as a black cat and get shipped out of this crappy country too? Thanks.



Now, it should be noted that in the three days since launching the campaign, Impact BBDO Dubai slightly altered the angle of the promotion to portray it as a vacation for cats, changing the Twitter hashtag to #BlackCatsOnHoliday instead.

But prior to this change, the best part about this campaign was seeing people’s reactions on Twitter:

Like the man who thought it was racist:



And, the other man who thought it was racist:


The woman who felt the need to explain what a black cat is:


And the one person who liked it:



Just a quick heads up: black cats are not a race. Also, the next time you want to eliminate Lebanese bad luck, just buy 128 one-way plane tickets for our parliament members and send them to an island far, far away.

On a more serious note, this superstition has very real implications. Black dogs are often passed over in favor of lighter colored dogs, but black cats have it worse, with the added stigma of superstition and association with witches.

Dang. It's been a bad month for cats in Lebanon.

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