An AI-generated advertisement violent a massive wave of public and official anger in Iraq today, Wednesday, for depicting the great poet Muhammad Mahdi Al-Jawahiri as a specter serving tea to Prime Minister Mohamed Shia Al-Sudani in his office, in a scene described as an "insult" to a major national and cultural symbol.
Urgent investigation
The Prime Minister's Media Office issued a statement in which Al-Sudani expressed his "absolute" rejection of the video's content, broadcast under the title "Unified Iraq" on the occasion of Ramadan, affirming that it "contradicts" the respect and appreciation the Prime Minister holds for Al-Jawahiri's literary and national value.
Al-Sudani directed the Media and Communications Authority to conduct "an urgent investigation into the entities that produced, promoted, or published the advertisement," considering the imaginative clip to contain "insults to cultural icons and government institutions," and "irresponsible use of AI technologies in violation of professional and media standards."
The statement emphasized the Prime Minister's legal right to "prosecute the producing entity," describing the video as "offensive to Iraq and its national symbols."
The Third River of Iraq pours tea
As soon as the video was widely circulated on social media platforms, severe criticism emerged from Iraqi personalities and platforms.
The poet and journalist Hossam Al-Saray cautioned, in a post on the "X" platform, that "artificial intelligence will be a monster that devours history" if misused, considering the advertisement a transformation of a pioneering name into a "chaichy" (an Iraqi word meaning the worker who prepares and serves tea), denouncing the lack of cultural awareness.
The researcher and journalist Muhib Risshan considered in a deep analysis that "the incident should not be read as a mere mistake, but as an alarm bell that calls for a serious review of the standards of creative production in Iraq," pointing out that "the prosperity of any society is measured by its ability to protect its cultural memory from distortion."
Local media coverage confirmed that the public anger considered the ad an "insult" rather than an honor, and that Al-Jawahiri "is too great to be hired" in advertising contexts.
Clarification and response
Although the local advertising company "Bana Marketing"—the producer of the ad—issued a clarification defending the intent as a "symbol of warmth and generosity," this did not stop the wave of rejection and condemnation.
The media personality Ali Nouri considered the company's justification a "real farce," stating in a blog post on "X" that it would have been better if they had apologized for this work which transformed respected personalities into "chaichies" (tea servers) for politicians.
It is worth noting that Muhammad Mahdi Al-Jawahiri, known as the "Greatest Arab Poet" and "The Third River of Iraq," is one of the greatest pillars of modern Arabic poetry. He was born in the city of Najaf, held pioneering positions as the first president of the Union of Iraqi Writers and the first chief of journalists in Iraq, and his poetry represents a living cultural heritage and a symbol of national memory in Iraq.
