In the Middle East, this video is going viral. Produced for Ramadan by the Kuwaiti telecom firm Zain, and aired during the holy season of Ramadan, it is creating dialogue — and exposing a division of opinion — as it depicts the victims of terrorism (some of whom are recognizable) confronting a suicide bomber:
According to a report by the Guardian UK:
The three-minute video…went viral over the weekend with some calling for it to be withdrawn, while others praised its tagline of “we will counter their attacks of hatred with songs of love, from now until happiness”.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.” […] The Zain spot faced criticism from social media users even as some praised its tackling of a sensitive topic, with many Syrians condemning its use of an actor to play Omran, pointing out that the boy was wounded in an airstrike by the regime of Bashar al-Assad rather than in an attack by Muslim extremists. They argued that the majority of victims of violence in Syria had suffered at the hands of the regime, rather than jihadis.
More:
“The child Omran is a victim of Assad’s barrel bombs and not the terrorism of Daesh,” wrote Kutaiba Yassin, a Syrian writer, using a synonym for Islamic State. “Part of justice for any victim is to expose his killer. Zain’s ad distorts the truth.” Some also felt it was inappropriate for a corporation to use the images of victims of terrorism in a commercial spot, arguing it was exploitative. But one Facebook comment said: “It’s wonderful. We need these beautiful words these days. I wish those words are applied through actions in the Muslim world.”
Read the whole report here. What is your opinion? What do you think of the video? Is it hopeful? Is it exploitative? Should actors be used to reproduce the looks of iconic victims, or not? Does this give victims a voice? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.
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