‘Bomb violence with mercy’: Antiterror commercial goes viral
THE GUARDIAN: A Ramadan TV ad by a Middle Eastern telecommunications company in which victims of terrorism confront a suicide bomber and urge society to “bomb violence with mercy” has sparked a heated debate in the region, with some praising its attempt to tackle extremism and others criticising it for using victims of bombings and a simplistic portrayal of terrorists.
The three-minute video by Zain, a commercial mobile operator based in Kuwait, went viral over the weekend with some calling for it to be withdrawn, while others praised its tagline of “we will counter their attacks of hatred with songs of love, from now until happiness”.
The video begins with images of a militant preparing a suicide vest interspersed with shots of a man and woman preparing for their wedding, a grandfather playing with a child, and children in a classroom.
It opens with a voiceover by a child, saying: “I will tell God everything, that you’ve filled the cemeteries with our children and emptied our school desks.”
As the suicide bomber travels to his destination, he is confronted by victims of terrorism, covered in blood and dirt, including a child actor playing the role of Omran Daqneesh, the child from Aleppo whose bloodied image was seen around the world.
It features a bride who survived the wedding bombing in Amman, a man who lost his son in a car bombing in Baghdad and another who survived a suicide attack in Kuwait.