DUBAI An offbeat Ramadan ad campaign shot by a multinational cola company in the UAE has become a huge talking point for its strong message against social prejudice and stereotyping based on physical appearance.
Titled “Labels are for cans, not for people,” the Coca-Cola ad, whose video on YouTube alone has garnered over one million hits in three days, features six strangers, invited by Coca-Cola to an iftar dinner in a dark hotel room in Dubai to play out a telling experiment.
The participants who can’t see each other start talking about their lives without giving away too much. Somewhere along the line, they share their views about what they think the others look like. But when the lights finally come on, everyone is in for a shock: each person ends up being a far cry from the images they represent in the others’ minds.
Dubai-based Loy Machedo, one of the six protagonists, told XPRESS: “I was the biggest shock element.”
When the heavily tattooed speaker, coach and branding strategist, talks about his interests in reading and cognitive psychology, members of the group perceive him as being a “bragging” intellectual, a “Stephen Hawking-like” character, even “someone who wears a suit and blends into society”. One of them tells him: “You look nerdy. You think you are cool but you are a nerd.”
But when they discover who he really is, they are completely taken aback.
The video even shows a participant saying: “If I see someone like him anywhere outside, I’d definitely not sit and talk to him.”
There are other surprises too.
For instance, when Alaa Abou Saada, 41, talks about his heavy metal band, others conjure up an image of him sporting long hair, tattoos and earrings. In reality, he turns out to be an impeccably dressed art director with a creative agency. “It was a life-changing experience,” said Saada. “It taught us never to judge anyone based on their appearance.”
Machedo said: “Other contrasts included a skydiver who everyone imagined was a tall, well-built athlete in his 40s. But when the lights came on, we realised he was a paraplegic, very thin and young. We also had a man who spoke exceptional Arabic in an Emirati accent who was actually an American who had studied Arabic for eight years.”
The video experiment ends with the participants reaching out for a box from under the table. When they open it, they find red cans which carry Coca-Cola’s Ramadan message.
Islam El Dessouky of Coca-Cola Middle East said: “Fighting prejudice is an ongoing global battle, which Coca-Cola Middle East is proud to help combat this Ramadan by reminding the public that labels are for cans not for people. By urging everyone to remove stereotypes, we hope to spread happiness to the wider community.”
The idea is to encourage people to “open up” and connect with friends based purely on interests and not how they look.
YOUSPEAK: Why do people tend to judge others by their appearances?
