• ISCRIVITI ALLA NEWSLETTER

As Ramadan approaches, preparation for campaigns starts. A huge amount of festive commercials, most of them pretty sugary, are launched in a time we usually imagine as a moment of pure religious recollection. Fast and penitence; a vaguely dark atmosphere, maybe even shaded with fanaticism – that’s how we imagine Ramadan on the other side of the Mediterranean sea. We don’t know the truth, we just listen to cheap newscasts and accidental opinion makers.

But it’s all the way round. From the advertising agencies point of view, Ramadan is like Christmas in Western countries. Lots of themed commercials, usually portraying happy families gathered around a laden table.

A survey on how advertising is related to Arab Spring has been recently carried out. Because Arab Spring is about revolution and democracy, but it is not just that. Advertising is a window on a country daily life and its grade of civilization, warts and all. The result of the survey is a demystified picture of the Arab world. Norman Douglas writes: “You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements”. And if observation of advertising in Italy reveals a certain “barbarization”, in Arab countries it shows lightness, wit and the pleasure of sharing moments of relaxation and amusement.

Advertising in North Africa had been saying this for quite a while. It suggested it with its greater disinhibition and exported sense of humour. Things were changing. With the wisdom of hindsight, it seems impossible that a military regime could put in a cage a society capable of conveying such an energy. In her essay “Invisible Arabs”, journalist and Middle-East expert Paola Caridi points out that “subtle social changes” could be traced in musical videoclips. Day after day, Arab countries were building their future of freedom.

The creatives we interviewed on Skype are so conscious and their vision is so global that they are able to talk to the world just through an idea. No surprise they stood up along with their people during the amazing revolts of 2011. They were ready. Each of the interviewed has worked abroad, in multicultural teams, and has a strong command of Pop language. But what is mostly important from a historical point of view is that each of them is capable to develop contents that are understood worldwide. They not only import ideas from other countries, but also export them abroad, filling our world with imagination.

A lot of imagination. At the 2011 Cannes Lions Festival, Northern Africa was nominated for 43 press campaigns, 12 billboards and won several prizes. Egypt won 4 golden lions (the same as Italy), and its evil and witty “Panda” series of commercials (here our interview to Elephant Cairo’s creative director Ali Ali) amused the world. Tunisia was awarded with a gold for their beautiful “Tunisia 2014″ campaign. Only Algeria was left empty-handed, but its advertising language is becoming more and more contemporary, in terms of both realism and taste – a topic we discussed with Rachid Banyahia.

But people died in this 2011. Change wasn’t painless. Of course the oppressors weren’t going to accept it. And the result was not the same in all the countries. Surprisingly enough, the best way to destroy stereotypes about Arab countries is to highlight what makes such countries different from each other. The change in Algeria and Morocco was gradual and subtle, while Egypt and Tunisia literally exploded. We tend to forget that each of these countries has a different historical background.

When Rachid talks about increased freedom of expression in Algeria (where he lives) as opposed to Ben Ali’s Tunisia, he mentions satire and newspaper sketches – a strong tradition in this country, in spite of all the risks its authors often face. On the other hand, Egypt is the leading country in the Arab mass media world, as Ali Ali reminded with pride. Egyptian television has a long history: Nasser’s resignation speech was broadcasted live on TV, causing even the news-woman to cry. People gathered in front of TV center in Cairo to beg him to stay.

What has been the role of advertising in North Africa? Sometimes it conveyed people need of truth, sometimes it denied it. In 2002, Egyptian-born Italian journalist Magdi Allam watched Libyan state TV commercials and commented them for Italian newspaper “La Repubblica”: he defined them as an attempt by Gheddafi to ferry the country toward a new “Coca-Cola Lybia made in the US”. Then Libya got rid of the ferryman. In other cases advertising was omittive, thus revealing censorship and taboos. But if we examine the strategies used by creatives and copywriters to bypass these obstacles, we discover new spaces of increasing freedom.

After all, it’s in this area of the world that certain brands became part of our democratic landscape. A proof of this is the use we make of them: we do not think anymore that by mentioning them we are in someway “promoting” them (that’s what people used to say in the past). YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook and Google are still private companies, but they became also internationally understood words, synonyms of free news circulation and truth leaking out from the establishment. As a matter of fact, they are the new symbols of democracy.

In his political accounts, great Egyptian writer and politician Alaa al-Aswany often mentions social networks, praising young “Unknown soldiers” who struggled by building communication networks on the Internet. Even if Ali Ali precises – as he does in our interview – that Tahrir Square was not only a revolt of young “interconnected” people, but it was the revolt of the everyman. “The young started it, but then the people followed them” he says. It was all about dignity: the Egyptian people was asking for a job, a salary, the basic necessities of life.

By going through the events of Arab Spring, we examine advertising as a vehicle of information and as a medium of political and social change. Advertising seen not as a voice coming from a distant and unreal world, but as a chance for living reality, discovering a people’s habits, politics and economics. A chance for building social participation and enhancing civilization. The copywriters we interviewed did not create Arab Spring. But they described it, supported it, anticipated it. Some of them just saw the changes that were in the air. Some gave voice to it. We wish they continue their good work – and it’s not a set expression.

Giuseppe Mazza is founding partner and creative director of Tita.