Black Cats on Holiday
Les chats noirs portent malheur au Liban et bonheur en Nouvelle-Zélande.
Certains libanais ont imaginé remplacer les chats noirs par les politiciens, qui semblent également peu considérés à l’ombre du cèdre vert.
Lebanese people are hopelessly superstitious. […] Now, the first thing I thought when I read this, is “fuck, those cats are lucky, leaving this superstitious cesspool of religious extremists to go to one of the most gorgeous, peaceful places ever: Middle Earth, otherwise known as New Zealand.”
Gino’s Blog: “The Black Cat Loto Campaign Confusion in Superstitious Lebanon”.
The whole thing soon fell apart however, when animal rights groups and animal lovers alike jumped to defend black cats and raised their voice against what they considered a tasteless and offensive advertisement. These groups claimed that such an advertisement perpetuated a baseless stereotype that has plagued black cats for ages. They immediately took to Facebook to voice their complaints opening the door to their followers to unleash their fury against the advertisement, which they perceived as offensive and maintain the quickly escalating saga. When the video made it to the Ads of Lebanon Facebook page, things seemed to reach their worst, as the negative comments reached their climax about an ill-conceived campaign, hindering the overall progress and goodness of society.
“Black cats need your help now more than ever!”, wrote Animals Lebanon on their Facebook page.
[…] Some have probably guessed that cats weren’t actually sent out to New Zealand. Someone revealed that the commercial, already riddled with controversy was actually filmed at Regency Hotel in Dbayeh. The purpose of the commercial was only to bring about some humour to the story while creating engaging and entertaining content. However, concerns that most people were going to seriously and literally take the message with no second-degree humour involved whatsoever turned out to be justified.
Arab Ad Mag: “You Have to Be Kitten Me!”
(Client : Loto Libanais. Agence : Impact BBDO Dubai. Production : Big Kahuna Dubai. Post production : Serena Dubai. Musique : Eardrum Australia.)
Sinon, les chats noirs ont d’autres problèmes que les idiots supertitieux : les “selfies”, cf. “Black cats being rejected because they don’t look good in selfies, says RSPCA.”
Blah ? Touitter !