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Capital Nation: Billboard Advertising, Cash Economies and the Rise of the Dollar in Lebanon
Abstract
In October 2019, Lebanon suffered one of the worst economic crises in contemporary history. Compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic, and one of the worst non-nuclear explosions at Beirut’s Port in August 2020, the Lebanese economy has faced triple digit inflation, devaluation of the Lebanese Lira by 98% and shortages on everyday necessities such as energy and drinking water. Billboard advertising, however, has been a stalwart of the Lebanese landscape, despite the unviability of life for many in the country. Billboards advertise products only the most elite can afford, including purchasing passports from upwards of $100,000, apartments in Greece from $250,000 and luxury goods, while simultaneously promoting energy sources to avoid load-shedding. Using fieldwork conducted in the summer of 2023 in Beirut, this paper explores the increasing dollarization of Lebanon, the rise in a cash-based informal economy and how this is reflected in the visual and linguistic landscape of billboard advertising. It seeks to answer two questions: How do visual and linguistic landscapes change during times of crisis, and how does crisis seep its way into all corners of a cityscape? My research encompassed a mixture of methodologies, including interviews, visual ethnography and autoethnography to discover the affective nature of handling the devalued Lira and how increased dollarization contributes to a post-colonial imaginary of the Dollar as the symbol of financial stability in Global South countries. It further explores how post-crisis advertising is violent and predatory, by using the everyday fears of Lebanese citizens to sell products. As inequality and vulnerability grows in Lebanese society, and many Lebanese feel increasingly disconnected from their home country, several are choosing to emigrate as life becomes unviable in Beirut. The research adds to the literature on post-crisis advertising, dollarization of economies in the Global South and the increase in informal cash-based economies in an increasingly digitalized world.
Discipline
Interdisciplinary
Geographic Area
Lebanon
Sub Area
None