You’ve seen these famous logos countless times on billboards, passing by on trucks, and at the grocery store, but there is more to them than meets the eye. If you take a closer look, you will find that these recognized logos have hidden images and messages. Check out these inventive designs that cleverly use white space and optical illusions to display subliminal messages.

FedEx

This logo appears to be very simple, but if you look at the white space between the "E" and "x" in “Ex," you’ll find it is more complex than you thought. Can you spot the arrow?

Tostitos

These popular party chips are a staple at many backyard BBQs, but chances are, you’ve never noticed the hidden celebration scene concealed within the letters. The second and third "t’s" are sharing a chip over an "i" that is dotted with a salsa bowl. Yum!

By Livia Murray The Daily Star

BEIRUT: While Lebanese expatriates have long maintained close economic and cultural ties with their home country, they were finally granted the right to vote in parliamentary elections in 2008 – and were told that the process wasn’t ready for them in time for the polls that took place the following year.

Although the government is legally bound to provide a way for Lebanese expatriates to vote overseas, with the elections of 2013 just two years away, some politicians, government officials and civil society groups are worried that the out-of-country voting won’t be ready in time.

The electoral law adopted in 2008 states that “every Lebanese whose name appears in the electoral rolls has the right to vote by registering at the Lebanese Embassy or Consulate at the place of his residency abroad.”

Recent numbers from a survey conducted by the Foreign Ministry, however, show that out of the approximately 1.2 million Lebanese living overseas who are eligible, only around 3,000 have registered at their embassies to vote.

After being informed of the figure last week during a meeting at the ministry, Kesrouan MP Nehmtallah Abi Nasr argued that the Lebanese diaspora was in danger of missing out once again on the chance to vote.

But in an interview Thursday, Haitham Joumaa, director general of the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Expatriates Department, said the ministry was ready to hold voting abroad and had prepared a “detailed” mechanism to that end.

“If we are told that elections will be held three months from now, we are ready to hold out-of-country voting – if the cost of this process is covered and if we are provided with the sufficient personnel and other needs,” he said.

Joumaa said the survey by the ministry had polled every Lebanese embassy and consulate throughout the world, adding that an estimated number of 4 million expatriates have Lebanese nationality, though only those 21 years of age and over are eligible to vote.

“We have all the required details, such as, for example, what states do not allow nationals who also hold a Lebanese passport to take part in Lebanon’s elections,” he said.