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| Art work by Tarek Chemaly |
I’m usually requested why is it that I acquire previous adverts. Individuals merely don’t perceive that the adverts in query are the focus of our collective reminiscence. A number of days in the past a teen from the village requested me that very same query. My reply was “Chou battariytak?” he instinctively answered “Re-O-Vac” (right here). So I requested him “have you learnt that the final time this advert was on TV was about 1981-82?” “no….” “had been you even born again then?” “no….” “see, that is our reminiscence as folks, as Lebanese, and you understand about an advert that final aired earlier than you had been even born!”. Josyane Boulos is doing an amazing effort on-line (right here) to revive previous adverts present in her archives – apparently, the adverts are principally in her and her late father Jean-Claude Boulos’ applications on Tele Liban (resembling Malaeb). Like every collector with a mission, I’ve rather a lot – and I imply rather a lot – of adverts.
In the course of the pandemic I made it a degree to observe 3 hours of Saudi Tv archives on youtube to avoid wasting the adverts that had been being broadcast in Lebanon as nicely on the time (80s tv thoughts you). Maybe you do know however one of the lively businesses in Lebanon misplaced its archive when their workplaces had been hit in Mirna Chalouhi heart in the course of the conflict in 1989, and one other company actually threw theirs within the trash. I as soon as met with a significant manufacturing company of the time and the supervisor instructed me “sure, we nonetheless have the previous adverts, however do not get too excited, we do not have the machines to learn them”.
From my very own archives, just a few adverts are nonetheless lacking – Vegetaline, Jebran Metni, Benedicta, however most significantly…. Penrex! The advert, continues to be remembered by many, although nowhere to be discovered. The story of the advert is of a younger man standing behind an uptight younger lady within the bus. When the bus breaks violently the person bumps into the lady who’s astonished! The younger man instantly takes out the Penrex from his pocket to point that it was the pen not his – ahem – organ that really poked her. The slogan? “Do not say pen say Penrex!”… If my recollection is right, the whistle and the tune are each from the late Sami Clark.
However go discover that advert. It’s nowhere!
