Siniora, the meat product manufacturer, is running a huge ad campaign in Jordan. Outdoor billboards and two page full color ads in the newspaper declare: “Only Siniora, the rest is.. lettuce.”
This comes from the popular Arabic phrase which is used to declare that something is the best. Lettuce is used as a symbol for something humble, cheap or unworthy.
Well, well, well..
I just want to say that this campaign has gotten on my nerves. Severely.
First of all, eating plain old lettuce is healthier than eating processed meat products. One of the ads displays the “disappointing” sight of a lettuce leaf in a school lunch box. Do we want to teach our children that lettuce is “yuck”??
Second, I am sorry Siniora, but your meat products are not the best out there.
We bought a collection of your products recently. Some of your packaging even uses the word “premium”..
All your products taste almost the same. You chicken breast is a totally processed product. Your salami doesn’t taste like real salami at all. Even my kids spontaneously noticed and said they don’t like these products.
Siniora is a name my generation grew up with. In the 1970’s the brand Siniora (or Siniora Al Quds, from Jerusalem) stood for just one product: the rose colored round slices of processed meat with bits of pepper in them. It was the only form of cold cut most people knew. It was not fancy but we loved it. I probably still love it today.
Now the brand stands in my mind for big and negative advertising, and inferior products. What a shame.
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Comments
12 responses to “I am sorry Siniora, but plain lettuce is MUCH BETTER than your products..”
Cant do more than agree! with every thing u said
exactly!
the message is “we are so bitter about the competition, and we hate the fact that people are actually considering them”
on the radio ad:
a lady goes to a grocesory shop and asks for saniora, apparently they give her something else and she goes:
1. I want the one that have been there for more than 90 years.
2. The one that my mom and grandmother used to buy from.
3. The one that no matter how many other products appears in the market, it will remain the best.
They are so bitter about the market!
i totally agree, siniora is unhealthy at all, you would never know what’s in it, meat and what??? it is high in fat and sodium. i used to eat it with labaneh, now if i add labaneh, it doesn’t taste well at all.
I totally agree, I hated the AD, lettuce is much better than your products, I bought your product before, but after this AD, I will never, it’s not nice or ethical to say everybody is worthless except me, I think the owner should stop the campaign and fire the AD agency
hmmmmm, another tasteless ad? Shocking! It’s like advertisers and their agencies belittle an audience’s appetite. Sad.
thinking about it logically i can only agree with all of you..
but
i really like siniora, still..
and i like it with labaneh or without it.
ya3ni my old nostalgic feelings are still stronger than the informed logical thinking.. so i can’t dismiss it, i really like it.
matter of fact, you (not the stupid ad) made me wanna go make a sandwich right now.. our house is ever without it
btw, i am a health freak, but still eat it with moderation
I think this leads us to an important point i believe in, do you think that a supervision 3rd party like (IAA – International Advertising Association Jordan Chapter) or any other one, should review and approve any branding campains before launching it, to check for example if it contains any kind of statements that support non-good values like this one for example. what do you think?
Good question Malik. My answer is no to IAA or any 3rd party review/content monitoring. I believe that we need to upgrade our communication mantra. And if anything, the medium it’s booked in should refuse to run the creative. It’s everyone’s responsibility, every step of the way.
Agencies, clients, workers, audiences, consumers, media are all in this together. This ad is only one example of lame communication – both in creative and practice. People are still behaving like it’s survival of the bullish in consumerism. There’s no faith from communicators and those paying them to build better lifestyles and mindstyles, while selling. The era of selfish claims and incorrect assumptions and bluffing the consumer is so over. People want a conversation. People want to improve their lives. The makers of ads are part of these same people. I often ask when I see work like this: Who is it working for? Does the creator of such ads really react/behave to this kind of communication him/herself? Is the client’s own purchasing behavior impacted by such communication? Really?
Consumers have a huge role to play. They should speak out if ads like this offend or skew them. If they care about the product they should contact the producer and tell them that the image such ads reflect are in conflict with the brand values that gained their loyalty for so long. They should email it, call it, blog it, report it, mock it, cartoon it, whatever….. A good producer will listen and take action. The marketplace must speak up, again and again and again.
Marketing, advertising, PR – communication in general – needs a serious revamp – eh revolution actually. And it’s everyone’s job, every step of the way. No policemen needed, just a commitment to raising the bar and building better lives, and yes that includes selling and pitching your game, sure – but with a bit of responsibility, respect, and a lot more creativity – that’s all.
Thanks Nadine for your interaction
I hope one day we will have this self-monitoring culture, and discard the need of someone to approve our campaigns
hope you share me your comments too on my blog.
While I appreciate the enthusiasm, and agree with a few of the points here, I have some thoughts:
Out of all the awful campaigns this country has seen, I would argue that the Siniora campaign is the least offensive- and here is why:
Fact 1: Siniora is not a visually appealing food item: it is bright pink. I can’t think of any other food item that is THAT pink. It even has a scary texture and a strange shine to it. Wouldn’t you agree that removing the repulsive imagery does the product a favour? You are not seeing it, but you remember that you like your siniora with labaneh- surely thats a good thing. If I saw the pink stuff on bill boards all over the country….lets not go there.
Fact 2: I believe that Siniora is generally consumed by school children. In the sixth grade I remember chanting ‘X oo bas wil ba2ee kolo khas’ for almost all competitive occassions. So why not? Also, they don’t actually write the word ‘lettuce’, I’m sure kids get hyped when they figure it out, so lets at least acknowledge the minimal thought-process applied there.
Fact 3: At least they kept it real. I’ve seen other processed meat brands try to sell their product with little recipe books that teach you how to make a salad/ pasta/ pizza with the meat. Thats over-kill. Processed meat is used solely for sandwiches, AT BEST.
Having said all that, I’m not a fan of the campaign either, but I honestly do not have a better alternative. If siniora had approached me I doubt I’d have much to say about them. So I appreciate that someone made an attempt. Also, I think there are campaigns out there that are seriously worth ranting about (as opposed to this one) eg: On the way to the airport, one jewelery brand has a huge bill board that has a picture of a woman in a wedding dress and the words: look at the BRIDE side (Im assuming its a play on the phrase: look at the bright side)- seriously, what does it all mean? Are they advertising necklaces or anti-depressants?
In short:
I totally agree: communication mantra requires severe developmentbefore we all become immune to weak advertising. And I agree that we don’t need commercial-police, we just need to up our act.I’m not sure if this is the one we should be angry about (remember fastlink’s “This is Joud, she’s one year old” did that advert not anger you ten billion times more than the siniora ad? What was the significance of a droolysmiley baby?)My rant’s complete
Thank you for listening.
For me, what got on my nerves is the fact that the ad doesn’t show the product being advertised. Regardless of how popular your brand is, you just can’t assume that people will instantly “get it”.
Coca Cola enjoys tremendous brand equity and recognition, yet still all of their ads depict the ubiquitous Coca Cola can.
Guys,
we all love siniora from the beginning, we all grow up with siniora & Labaneh, we all know that Siniora is the leader of Meat process in Jordan, and it didn’t get this position unless it is really great taste and healthy,
actually I love the concept of this campaign, it doesn’t mean like what you understand, but it means that, please guys when go to the market to but Siniora Mortadella make sure that you get Siniora Mortadella not any other Mortadella, Because siniora in Jordan now became a generic name not just a brand (same as Jeep, Fine …etc.)
so totally I agree with this campaign and I think it is really straight to the point