to whom it may not concern …

I drive to work every morning on Sheikh Zayed Road, one of the biggest and most important highways in Dubai, and for more than 20 kilometers (on both sides of the road) all I see are big Coca Cola ads with Nancy Ajram’s face on them. A moment later, on the same road, I pass by a gigantic billboard ad for a jewelry shop and who’s the model? You guessed it right: again it’s Nancy Ajram!

Nancy’s Coca Cola Ad

It’s not just that … she’s everywhere I go … no no, she’s everywhere anyone goes: on soda bottles, in grocery stores, on the road, in our living rooms with all her songs, switch to a movie channel and I guarantee you she’ll pop up in a commercial break, she’s there right before any movie begins in the theaters, she’s in the newspapers, in the magazines, in Arabic, in English and of course … ON THE NET! Recently, Ikbis, the first photo and video sharing service in the Arab World, has been featuring a 10-second ad before you play any video on their website for none other than the great NANCY AJRAM! AAARGH!

That my friends is what is called “Product overexposure”, Ms. Ajram being the product of course, which is not necessarily useful for the celebrity and may well lead to the demise of his/her fame (and fortune) and to the inevitable I’m-sick-of-this-person attitude consumers sometimes tend to adopt. In my humble experience as an ex-publicist, and a current bored-out-of-his-head government employee, I’d say Nancy (or more like her manager: the “macho” Gigi Lamara, who she listens to religiously) is so after the money that she’s neglecting the consumer frustration that may backfire: our lost of interest in her as a person and the product she’s advertising!

That’s not my opinion alone … Chris Rojek, a Sociologist at Nottingham Trent University in Great Britain, said:

“Advertisers use the term ‘celebrity vamping’ to describe the over-use of a celebrity in selling products. They don’t like it because they figure that if the same celebrity is used to endorse multiple products, the public will become suspicious of the celebrity’s authority and expertise.”

Elissa’s Pepsi Ad

I’m getting sick and tired of seeing the three faces that monopolize the high selling consumer goods advertising business: Haifa Wehbe, Nancy Ajram and Elissa. These celebrities are over-used, we know it, they know it, yet advertisers in our region are loving it! Yes, it is our fault that we keep feeding their egos simply because they’re so hot and we love to see them … or loved to see them at least.

But, for how long do we want to keep seeing collagen-loaded celebrities as our role models? The worst-case scenario for media over-exposure may be devastating for the celebrity, when consumers get sick and tired of looking at them, or, in my case, the mere mention of their names, after getting used to a certain lifestyle and all the millions generated from advertising, they may fall so quickly from grace … and that’s what they call, quoting Craig David, "The rise and fall"!