Pimping Up the Outfit

I read a funny article in An-Nahar yesterday. It’s about Lebanon’s Battle of the Billboards. I thought it would cover the sheer multitude of billboards that line the roads, and basically pollute the land- and cityscape, but it was about how the political battle is continued on bill boards. Anyway, read the article for yourself.

They mentioned something that caught my eye:

‘Hours after Hizbullah commander Imad Mughniyeh was killed, huge billboards of his burly face stenciled like the iconic Che Guevara portrait or a photo of him in battle fatigues were printed and ready to display all over Lebanon. Pictures of this man on America's Most Wanted list are among the first images to greet visitors to the country, lining the road from the airport to downtown Beirut. (….)

Like any ad firm, Ressalat's (a Hizbullah-funded organization that handles advertising and cultural events for the organization) creative director Mohamed Noureddine and his team hunkered down after Mughniyeh's killing in a car bombing in Damascus in February to come up with a sophisticated campaign. "We came up with a stencil of him so that people can remember him like they do Che Guevara," Noureddine said. "This guy sacrificed his life and it is his right to be recognized and for people to see his picture."

Che Guevera versus Imad Mughniyeh

Now there is no comparing the two. In a battle of icons, nobody beats Che. It’s a handsome, adventurous young man with long flowing hair against a pudgy middle aged housefather with glasses.

The only thing they have in common is they both are in battle fatigues. And they both considered themselves freedom fighters, but I’ll let you be the judge of that.

But I can just see these guys sitting together, brain-storming, and suddenly ‘ BLINK’, “Let’s turn this guy into a Che Guevera”. It all fits. The stenciled outline, the background (red for communism, yellow for Hezbollah).

Hezbollah usually has some pretty dorky bill boards, with acne infested teenagers in battle fatigues, surrounded by pale roses, with a light pink or baby blue background, and a bright star, signaling their ascent into heavens, among the stars (basically indicating that they’re dead).
But I must admit, they’re getting better. These guys are actually getting hip! And although I prefer not to make any judgments, this is 1-0 for the opposition.

Andy Warhol (Che Guevera) versus Michael Hogue (Abbas Mussawi)

Can someone get March 14 on the line and tell their advertisement campaign manager to get on the case!