In the US, Cutty Sark was running a campaign under the title “Profiles”, which we at Publicite Universelle and at Baroody’s felt could be replicated seamlessly in Lebanon.
The search instantly began for young, trendy Lebanese who could serve as role models and influencers. The client and the agency suggested many names but, as I was leading this project, I rejected them all.
Cutty Sark was a new brand of whisky to the Lebanese public. Accordingly, the profile of its drinkers couldn’t be any person who was known at the time, as this automatically meant they were someone from the past.
Instead, the search for Lebanese Cutty Sark profiles led us to a fresh graduate from the Gemological Institute of America called Rafic Zaidan, because no one at Baroody’s or at Publicite Universelle seemed to know a single Lebanese man or woman who carried a university degree in diamonds and precious stones. Moreover, Rafic was an elegant athlete involved in many hobbies, which provided us with an opportunity to produce an attention-grabbing photo and a colorful profile. We took a photo of Rafic looking through his microscope and, at the very bottom of his profile, we mentioned that he loves to conclude his busy days with a glass of smooth Cutty Sark scotch in his hand.
The second profile was that of Fouad Joujou, another young Lebanese man who had just graduated from the École Supérieure de Réalisation Audiovisuelle in Paris. Fouad had begun to produce TV commercials, so his name was becoming popular, particularly since he was an Achrafieh resident with an office on Clemenceau Street and his summers were spent in Beit Mery where they had a cinema theatre on the ground floor of their building. Fouad was also an active member of the Movement de la Jeunesse Orthodox. We took a photo of Fouad behind his movie camera, with a film crew surrounding him, and featured his profile with a reference to Cutty Sark as his preferred scotch next to a bottle of the drink.
For the third ad in the series, we featured Mesbah Ghandour stepping out of a Lebanese Aero Club Cessna 152, as flying was his hobby. We introduced Mesbah as the general manager of Ghandour Printing Press, hence the surname associated Mesbah with Ghandour Biscuits and Chocolates, the most popular brand of the Sixties. In fact, Mesbah was contracted to print all its packaging, but this fact could not have been known to the public. The ad also mentioned that Mesbah was an active volunteer with the Lebanese Red Cross Ambulance Services, as well as a member of the Lebanese Boy Scouts leadership group. Obviously, Cutty Sark was Mesbah’s whisky too.
At Baroody’s Monday meeting, all attendees were of the same impression that newspaper readers had started waiting to find out who would be the next Cutty Sark drinker with great anticipation.
The extended Ghandour family used to move to the Lebanese summer resort of Ainab in June and stay there until the end of September, when schools re-opened. After the first ad featuring Mesbah appeared in Al Hawadess magazine, the phone at Mesbah’s house rang early on a Saturday morning. Mesbah’s uncle was the family’s eldest, and this meant a great deal in those days. Hajj Abdel Kader Omar Ghandour asked for Mesbah, who was summoned from the horse-back riding ring, and when he got online, he was curtly asked if he was promoting whisky in the local media. When Mesbah confirmed and explained how this has happened, he was instructed to urgently dress and stand by to accompany his uncle to Beirut.
En route to Dar Al Iftaa, Mesbah received the toughest scolding of his life, but this was nothing compared with the very serious lecture he and his uncle received from the Mufti Hasan Khalid. The head of the Sunni Muslim sect in Lebanon reminded the two that they were Muslims and, as such, should never touch any alcoholic product. Promoting it through mass media channels was an unforgivable sin. Obviously, this led to an instant apology. Hajj Omar left with the promise that no similar incident would ever be allowed at the Ghandour clan, as he would personally be responsible for that. He also pledged to ensure that Mesbah – and all the young members of the family – would accompany him to the mosque every Friday. Mesbah had to apologize and promise that nothing of this nature would ever happen again.
When they got into the car, Mesbah begged his uncle to allow him to pass by their house in Beirut instead of driving directly back to Ainab. He explained that magazines printed well in advance, and he wanted to call me to ensure that no more of the Cutty Sark ads featuring him would be published. For me, this was the instant death of a great campaign, as Emile Baroody insisted that Publicite Universelle should never ignore the Mufti, from that day on.