Egypt: The Abou Ismail Poster Frenzy

This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Revolution 2011.

Preparations are in full swing for the presidential elections in Egypt, set for May 23 and 24, 2012, with candidates’ election posters already up on the streets. But when it comes to Hazem Salah Abou-Ismail, he sure beats all the rest in the poster frenzy. His posters are almost seen almost everywhere – from walls to cars to refrigerators to babies and even on the posters of other candidates.

Infinite number of Abou Ismail Posters

Infinite number of Abou Ismail Posters

Egyptian netizens would not let the opportunity slip without poking fun at the poster bonanza.

Mohamed Hamza jokes [ar]:

@mohamad__hamza: اتوقع ان من اولويات الرئيس القادم الفقر و البطاله و ازاله بوسترات ابو اسماعيل

@mohamad__hamza: I believe the main priorities of Egypt's next president is to fight poverty, create new jobs and remove Abou-Ismail posters off the walls.

Randa Tawil adds [ar]:

@randatawil: دلوقتي لما تحب توصف لحد عنوان قوله إمشي طوالي مع بوسترات أبو إسماعيل بعدين هتلاقي تقاطع سيب أول بوستر و تاني بوستر و لف مع تالت بوستر يمين

@randatawil: Now when you want to describe an address to someone, you better say, keep going in the street with Abou-Ismail posters, then you will find a crossroad, leave the first poster and the second poster and with the third one turn to the left.

Monda Salem continues [ar]:

@Mondasalem: عاجل وحصرى: وكالة ناسا لعلوم الفضاء تعلن عن اكتشاف 5000 بوستر للشيخ ابوسماعيل فوق سطح كوكب المرّيخ.

@Mondasalem: Breaking news: NASA announced that it has discovered 5,000 posters for Hazem Salah Abou-Ismail on Mars

And Attiya Attiya notes [ar]:

@attiya_attiya:للمرة الثالثة خلال يومين .. أحد المواطنين يقسم لي أنه رأى بأم عينيه شارع خالي تماما من بوسترات ابو اسماعيل

@attiya_attiya: For the third time in two days, someone swears that he has seen streets with no posters of Abou-Ismail in them!!

It didn't stop here, as a new meme was started among Egyptian netizens, along with a tumblr account under the name “Abo-Ismail Doing Stuff.” Hundreds of other photographs were also posted both on Twitter and Facebook, where Abo Ismail is depicted to have his very own version of the popular social networking site:

Abou Ismail Facebook

Abou Ismail version of Facebook

Abo Ismail Last Supper

Abo Ismail Last Supper

And even the notorious Guy Behind Omar Suleiman re-appeared, this time carrying an Abou Ismail poster:

About Ismail meets The Guy Behind Omar Soliman

About Ismail meets The Guy Behind Omar Soliman

Finally, people did not forget to also make fun of Abou Ismail's infamous video, in which he claimed that PEPSI stands for Pay Every Penny to Save Israel:

Post Every Poster to Save Ismail

Post Every Poster to Save Ismail

This post is part of our special coverage of Egypt Revolution 2011.

7 comments

Cancel this reply

Join the conversation -> 3roubifaustralia

Authors, please log in »

Guidelines

  • All comments are reviewed by a moderator. Do not submit your comment more than once or it may be identified as spam.
  • Please treat others with respect. Comments containing hate speech, obscenity, and personal attacks will not be approved.