Saudi YouTubers mock advertising campaigns

We are all frustrated with the frequent advertisement campaigns in our country that underestimate our intelligence. But what is it that makes those advertisements so irritating to watch?Mohammed Bahmishan, a Saudi citizen working in the advertising industry, examines what are wrong with such campaigns through his satirical Youtube show “Fasel E3lany” (Commercial Break).The show takes you behind the scenes of what happens between an advertising agency and a client.It starts by introducing five characters as suspects involved in the crime of “Annoying Adverts.”They include Abdel Jaber Abo Laban, the average client that doesn't understand the meaning of creativity or even a brief; Mostafa Lahas, his Egyptian right hand man; Fadi Marmatoon, the stereotypical Lebanese customer service manager who naturally thinks that he rules the advertising trade in the Kingdom; Fahad Ba-Mirafea, the extremely Americanized copywriter; and finally Ameera Tanash, the typically spoiled graphic designer.The first episode features an amusingly clever scene showing these characters in a meeting between a client and agency representatives over a new project. The dialogue clearly explains the reason behind the end outcome in that there was no lateral thinking whatsoever that limits the creative abilities of designers. Later in the episode, they finally present the client with the advertisement campaign that they have created in one day. They present a concept that we are all too familiar with — a family sitting around a dining table listing all the product's assets and ending with a ridiculous joke.“I believe advertising should be a total reflection of our culture, lifestyle and way of thinking. It should help regular people to be inspired, educated, entertained and touched in a way or another. Today our advertising is not performing that important role,” said Bahmishan when asked on the ideas behind his show.“We want to change this. We cannot do it alone, so we want to involve everyone and educate others while still entertaining them. That will create a social pressure on advertising agencies, clients and the advert makers to implement better quality and better creativity.”He goes on to explain his future plans for the show. “Our future show is going to be less diplomatic and more honest, straightforward and blunt while still keeping the entertainment factor. Also, in our future episodes we want to involve regular people more. That's why there will be an important announcement we will make in the future.”Their first episode was viewed over 13,000 times since it was uploaded on YouTube a few days ago, unsurprising since it is the first show of its kind in Saudi Arabia.