In honor of #LebaneseArmyDay on Aug. 1, many Lebanese brands have been taking to social to express their solidarity with the Lebanese Army .
Virgin Ticketing Box Office jumped on the bandwagon, expressing appreciation to the Lebanese army in a Facebook post. However, the organization was forced to apologize after a Lebanese blogger, Lebanon Ads, pointed out that it had used a photo of an Israeli soldier in its social post.
Lebanon Ads revealed the source of the image, which was taken from Wikimedia with the header "Israel Defense Forces -IDF Soldiers Prepare Near Israeli-Syrian Border."
While using the wrong image happens often enough in social media these days, the use of an enemy soldier in a post honoring the Army is especially egregious.
Virgin Ticketing Box Office has since removed the image. The organization also apologized in a Facebook post .
*We SoftImpact, the company responsible for Virgin Ticketing Box Office's Facebook page, apologize for the picture that was mistakenly shared on Facebook. We feel bad that the image was used in a way to attack us through a campaign despite its intention, which was to salute the brave Lebanese Army. However, the image was taken out of context and exploited to attack the company's reputation and question our sense of nationalism.
We thank those who have pointed out the mistake. We will respond with a saying by the martyr General Francois el Hajj: "The great plan ... the big lead ... the heroes/ the brave win.... and the cowards invest" Long live the Lebanese Army and long live Lebanon!*