- Sara Fida -

Alright. Just to let everyone know that I dont look for bad ads to critisize them, but I also look for the good ones to give them some credit. However, the bad ones seem to stand out a bit more than any others. Maybe coz they're just BAD. This is an ad for Hayyak (prepaid phone credit) from Omantel. To be promoted during the Muscat Festival 2011. Lets start with the goods. Love the simplicity of the msg and font. I like how they put a hint of the festival at the back, no clutter, clear blue sky no clouds and a well styled up model. Festival = youth = jeans and jumper that match the climate at this time. Moving along.. Now as soon as I saw this ad, my direct attention was to the frog legs! Isn't his jump weird?! I'm sure they took several shots prior to "frog legs" stage. Aren't there any better ones like the ones below? Something with more of a happy, dance, side shot jump? Something more attractive with closed legs?!! ...

Alright.. Bismillah lets start with a popular ad these days. It's always in the newspaper... The Flexi finance scheme PEJERO. Bonus: The copy in the mupi is not aligned properly. *deep breaths*  Lets now look closely at what the ad is saying without reading the copy - To me as a viewer, it says when you pass by the mupi (where the main msg is) your car turns from a nice red to some sand colour, one. Two, you'll still be crossing old oman in the background, but camouflaged this time. Coz your car will match the background! Wait a sec? are u trying to say my car wont stand out? Crap! i don't want that PAJERO! I tried reading between the lines, I asked a designer friend, but we both still find it hard to link the image with the msg. Is there a catch in the copy? not really. They only talk about what you get from this offer.  I presume what they want to say is that this offer is so "Flexi." You can decide on whether you want your car ...

Okay. So I haven't ever written a blog before, but now I have the urge to put my blunt opinion out there for people to wake up and think out of the box. We have enough "firework" ads and "happy families" ads. We have enough 10,000 colour logo! Since my opinions are never heard, nor appreciated, and often trashed in Oman coz "the client asked for it" or "the client paid for it", I've decided to start a blog in my field of expertise; graphic design and advertising and say it ALL here. I will look for ads and designs in Oman that in my opinion could be done so much better and sell the product better too. I will critique advertisements in Oman and most probably logos. I think Oman has a long way ahead of it to reach Dubai or Bahrain in design. I heard that Oman is lacking 20 years behind Dubai in advertising and 10 years behind Bahrain. The good thing though, is that we are 10 years ahead of Yamen! Bismilla... Lets start... and PLEASE d...