A caring husband surprises his wife with a shiny, red car wrapped up in a beautiful white bow. As he eagerly takes her, and the rest of the family, out to see her present, they observe a similar scene unfolding in the neighbours’ garden.
However, the neighbour has bought his wife a bigger, sportier and more expensive car. As the first family watches the neighbours’ wife screaming ecstatically about her flashy new car, they get more disappointed with their gift. The first wife then returns the keys of her smaller car to her husband and storms back into the house.
This is a television advertisement for a leading telecommunications company. Although it may be attempting to be humorous, it is anything but. The idea that the latest and most expensive thing is always the best is not always true and definitely should not apply to gifts.
As we prepare for the last few hours of Ramadan, we are striving to feel humility and thankfulness, and strengthen family relations. We are trying to abstain from feelings of spite, hatred and jealousy as well as from food and drink. This is always a special time of year, when we get to know our neighbours and deepen our existing friendships, as we send and receive dishes and pray Taraweeh together in the neighbourhood mosque.
The best-loved activity for families, all over the region, after breaking our fast, is without a doubt sitting together and watching our favourite family-friendly television programmes. Advertising agencies around the region are acutely aware of this, and they vie for airtime to reach the maximum number of viewers. Along with our families, we are watching these advertisements repeatedly and taking in these messages – whether we want to or not.
Another leading telecommunications company has a clever advertisement that depicts a father lining up his sons and subjecting them to an “IT devices raid”. The father checks each of his sons with a hand-held metal detector to ensure that they are not concealing any mobile devices. The sons must place their phones and tablets on a table before sitting down to join their family for iftar.
This advertisement says that, while it is important to be connected in the virtual world, an actual gathering is even more important. Considering that it is in the advertiser’s interest to keep us plugged in, this commercial seems to show that the company really cares about its customers, their families and their feelings during this special month.
All companies should realise that consumers in this country are extremely sophisticated. We are highly educated, well-travelled and have available to us the very best of brands from around the world.
The “leverage point” of any advertisement is where the viewers relate the message about the product to their own value system. Consumers can become displeased with a company when they feel that its values are different to their own. Any messages from a company will give us an impression of the brand which includes much more than just the product’s features.
In much the same way, we as individuals are like a brand and the messages we send also reflect on us.
It is the time of year when we should be ruminating on the type of messages we are sending to our WhatsApp groups, Facebook friends, and Twitter and Instagram followers.
When we broadcast messages, images and videos, we should be aware that these messages say something about the type of person we are. Social media messages can be fun and entertaining, but it is not just their content that matters; the amount and quality of those messages sometimes creates an impression, too.
We should ask ourselves a few questions before we press the send button: Would we send this message to our parents or children? Would this joke cause offence to our colleagues? What is our intention in posting this holiday picture?
Let’s make sure our messages do not leave a bad taste, like the one left by the television commercial about the cars.
Reema Marzouq Falah Al Ahbabi is an Emirati homemaker and MBA graduate
On Twitter: @rm_ahbabi
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The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
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Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
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In Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement
John Heminway, Knopff
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
What to watch out for:
Algae, waste coffee grounds and orange peels will be used in the pavilion's walls and gangways
The hulls of three ships will be used for the roof
The hulls will painted to make the largest Italian tricolour in the country’s history
Several pillars more than 20 metres high will support the structure
Roughly 15 tonnes of steel will be used
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.0-litre, twin-turbocharged W12
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 626bhp
Torque: 900Nm
Price: Dh1,050,000
On sale: now
Key developments in maritime dispute
2000: Israel withdraws from Lebanon after nearly 30 years without an officially demarcated border. The UN establishes the Blue Line to act as the frontier.
2007: Lebanon and Cyprus define their respective exclusive economic zones to facilitate oil and gas exploration. Israel uses this to define its EEZ with Cyprus
2011: Lebanon disputes Israeli-proposed line and submits documents to UN showing different EEZ. Cyprus offers to mediate without much progress.
2018: Lebanon signs first offshore oil and gas licencing deal with consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek.
2018-2019: US seeks to mediate between Israel and Lebanon to prevent clashes over oil and gas resources.
The specs
Price, base / as tested Dh960,000
Engine 3.9L twin-turbo V8
Transmission Seven-speed dual-clutch automatic
Power 661hp @8,000rpm
Torque 760Nm @ 3,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined 11.4L / 100k
'My Son'
Director: Christian Carion
Starring: James McAvoy, Claire Foy, Tom Cullen, Gary Lewis
Rating: 2/5
BORDERLANDS
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis
Director: Eli Roth
Rating: 0/5