While reading my aggregator on this quiet first Sunday morning of Ramadan – and we wish a good Ramadan to all our readers – I came across a post in Yabiladi entitled “Morocco’s double identity”, with an image that “clicked” in reference to the two articles Marie-Aude has just published on alcohol during Ramadan.
I ran to the Facebook page in question, “National Ads“, and I have to say right away, we love it!
It’s high quality graphic design, way above what we’re used to seeing in Morocco. Besides, these are “fake ads”.
Among all the visuals published, this is the one I prefer, as it sums it up so well:
We’ve all heard the expression “Berber whiskey” when we go on a tour in the south. A daily drink that is served to you and explained as the national drink, “Berber whiskey”. Already, but we can debate this another time, this appropriation of Moroccanitude by the Berbers is interesting… anyway, what I find absolutely fascinating in this National Ads publication are the comments!
The very first one sees fit to state
The only “whiskey” I drink is Berber
As if it were essential to state immediately that no, you don’t drink alcohol, and that you are not the bad Muslim that this creation might imply.
Then there’s the one who takes it at face value (and who has obviously never been on a tourist tour):
You’ll have to explain to me the meaning of this image in relation to the others. I don’t see how a bottle of Jack Daniel’s is part of our identity.
It’s just a good consumed by a small part of Moroccans. Why not put Danone or Pampers 3la had le7ssab?
This one, loaded in the same album, is just as powerful
… especially at the moment, when Benkirane’s statements on the perversion of the Moroccan family by the Western model are widely debated.
Or this one, which evokes the economic contrasts in Morocco, the shanty towns next to the rich districts of Casa, for example…
In reality, the page has been around for a long time… it was created by communication professionals, and it relays an impressive number of Moroccan ads since 2011. There is of course the “Je m’appelle Azzi” campaign, which we talked about here, or more classic ads, like this one, a very western fashion photo… or photos, like the one of this Berber in the middle of the desert, reading the Elle newspaper, which echoes these “True Moroccan” creations.
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