Saudis protest ad showing them cursing Nissan by…cursing Nissan

When we first came to Israel in the early 1990s, Israeli television was a pathetic affair. There were two channels, and the only semblance of competition between them was who could broadcast the oldest, most boring reruns possible. Commercials were worse: static screens with white text on a blue background telling us to buy something.

As television became more sophisticated, real commercials were introduced. In the beginning, they were horrific concoctions of bad humor and naked women (How do we get people to buy this toothpaste? Naked women! How should we get kids to buy Milky? Naked women!)

But like so many things with Israelis, it was just a matter of time before they got the hang of it, and now Israeli commercials are really fun to watch.

One theme that’s appeared in Israeli commercials lately is what our Arab neighbors are thinking. Take this ad created by the Israeli branch of McCann Erickson, where Iranians celebrate Ahmadinejad’s declaration that he will destroy Israel, until they realize this means they’ll miss the last episode of the Israeli show Danny Hollywood:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwzcpVhrqKU

The latest installment in the Israeli-commercials-with-Arabs series didn’t go over as smoothly as the one above. A new commercial for the gas-efficient Nissan Tiida depicts some Arab oil magnates cursing the car for its efficiency. In response, Arab oil magnates protested this commercial which they saw as racist by…cursing Nissan. It reminds me of that time when the pope hinted that the Moslem world might be a bit too violent, and to protest that generalization Moslem world burned down a few churches and other things.

Anyways, here’s the ad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rM4tQ2ibEk

I don’t know about you, but this ad doesn’t seem to be racist. The guys are dressed in the typical garb, they’re not ugly, and they look pretty normal. The idea that the oil magnates might feel animosity towards cars that sip gas is actually a…what’s that word…a joke.

So here’s an idea: everybody has an initiative for peace. I’ve seen Go-Karting for Peace, Playgrounds for Peace, Surfing for Peace. Maybe if people in this region had a sense of humor, things would be better. So who wants to join me in my new initiative: Sense of Humor for Middle East Peace?