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| Right: 'No' Campaign by 14 March allies, 2011 Left: 'No' slogan by Hezbollah, July 2012 |
One of the major Lebanese political parties,Hezbollah, unveiled its new slogan/ campaign yesterday during a speech delivered by its Secretary General. Hezbollah's slogan comes as a response to a campaign that 14 March launched earlier in 2011. Both campaigns use the same key word 'لا' (meaning 'No'), to make different political statements.
The use of the language of the 'other' in politics and in visual culture is not new to us as visual people. It is also not new us, the Lebanese, who are constantly bombarded with political campaigns and their counters in the city streets, on highways, if not also in our night-sleeps! 14 march's 'I love life' campaign and 8 March's 'I love life without' launched in 2007 serve as another interesting example of how billboards aim shoot at one another in a silent lavishly designed war. Very Smart strategies that employ emotion as a persuasive tool, which can sometimes be overwhelming. Notice the terms used in the above slogans: weakness, defeat, treachery...
Unfortunately, this time I fell victim for such strategies. Hezbollah's use of blue color (the brand color of its counter ally Future Movement), has given me a false belief that we have finally come to a united vision for the future of this country _ a hope that lingers inside alot of us. And so, I was left hopeless for the remaining 2 hours of the speech.
Such is the devastating power of these strategies!
Peace.
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