Billboard celebrating Fourth of July in Jal al-Dib. (Credit: Elias Abou Leyl on X)
Billboards along Lebanon's highways and at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport celebrating the Fourth of July sparked backlash on social media over the past few days.
"Happy 4th of July," the billboards read alongside the U.S. flag, marking America's 250th birthday.
The campaign comes one week after Lebanon removed banners thanking Iran from the Beirut's airport road and replaced them with billboards reading "Lebanon first" and "Lebanon unites us" alongside a Lebanese flag on a red background, which were later partially burned. The incident followed the signing of a framework agreement between Israel and Lebanon, which Hezbollah and other parties rejected. Hezbollah has instead lauded Iran's achievement of a cease-fire two weeks earlier, which supposedly includes the Lebanese front.
The initiative to mark the occasion through billboards came from JGroup, a Beirut-based holding company established by entrepreneur Imad Jomaa in 2003. The ads appeared on PromoMedia billboards. The advertising company, which belongs to JGroup, was founded by Jomaa early in his career and now operates one of the largest billboard networks in Lebanon and Iraq. In addition to his work through JGroup, Jomaa has also invested in real estate, including the development of two skyscrapers in New York City.
PromoMedia General Director Patrik al-Haber told local television channel LBCI on Sunday that the "purpose of the billboards was to convey a message of congratulations on this occasion, without any political motives or objectives."
Still, the billboards quickly sparked comments on social media.
"Not even America's closest ally is celebrating the 4th of July. The humiliation ritual going on in Lebanon is crazy," one X user wrote. "Why is Lebanon celebrating the 4th of July?" another user asked.
Other countries, mainly France, Romania and Japan, have celebrated the Fourth of July this year. In Paris, the Eiffel Tower was illuminated in the colors of the U.S. flag and with the number "250" to mark the occasion. However, many other countries did not celebrate the occasion locally.
