A few weeks ago Lebanon was overrun with this “I love life” campaign. At first I did not know who was behind the posters. I thought that this might be a neutral organisation that was trying to talk some sense into the fighting parties. Then a friend explained to me that this was no neutral party, this was actually one of the fueding ones.
What is important to note here is this: 1- the colors used are those of the flag, 2- the design is simple and straight to the point, very effective, 3- the message is easy to remember and as such very powerful, 4- the design is very well done.

What bothers me is this: 1- loving life is not a trademarkable slogan, we all love life ( for God’s sake, it’s instinctive!), 2- to imply that the other half loves death is just derogative, 3- to imply that the other half loves to be poor and downtrodden is akin to a rapist who claims that his victim enjoined his invasive action, 4- if I wanted to show a “loving” message, I would have used a white background to imply peace and not a red one which gives a very heated tone, 5- there’s a bloody undertone because of the predominant usage of the color red.

Funnily enough, a couple of weeks after this campaign came a rebuttal, as can be seen in the picture (thanks Samar!). The other half now responds, also in blood red: I want to live in Lebanon too!

What we see here is a typographic fight echoing the bloody fights in the streets of Beirut. Note the way “in Lebanon” is written. It’s written in grafiti style, a bit childish and defiant. Sort of saying: I hear what you say, but I have something to say too.

And it really is a fight. Will we see a reaction to the reaction? Will there be “I love life (in Lebanon) and without you in it?” What a pity that typography takes you only so far. As it was clear last Tuesday and Thursday, words are no longer enough. The blood hounds are out and the snipers (who called them?) are on our roof tops.

Posted by nadine on Monday, January 29th, 2007 at 1:04 am.