Arab advertisers cash in on fears of Trump win

Two companies in the Arab world launched advertisements today which chimed with fears in the region about the outcome of the US election election.
2 min read
09 Nov, 2016
Two adverts have been playing on the idea of a Trump victory [Youtube]
Arabic companies have played on fears in the region of a Donald Trump victory importing Tuesday's US elections into their advertising campaigns.

The first advert from Lebanese real estate firm DEMCO Properties, has played out every half hour on CNN's Europe, African and Middle Eastern channels.

The advert, titled "Lebanon is calling", features a businessman in a high-rise office in New York answering a phone call from "Lebanon" asking him to come home.

The businessman replies that he had always wanted to return home, but "things haven't been easy" - implicitly referring to Lebanon's political and economic problems in recent years.

"Well, I've been working hard, day and night and now things have changed - I'm back on my feet again," said the "Lebanon" character.

The second advert, from Royal Jordanian Airlines, makes a subtle dig at Trump's promise to ban all Muslims from entering the US.

"Just in case he wins... travel to the US while you're still allowed to!" the airline's advert reads.

An image of the advert has been retweeted more than 2,000 times in ten hours and has been met with wildly differing opinions.

One responder, Suzie Canes, tweeted: "The BEST 2016 marketing campaign. Hilarious," whereas the user David Rhys Williams disagreed and tweeted: "@RoyalJordanian, another very silly campaign".

Republican US candidate Donald Trump made a call to ban all Muslims from entering the US after the deadly San Bernardino mass shooting, where two supporters of Islamic State group gunned down 14 people.

"I think that we should definitely disallow any Muslims from coming in. Any of them. The reason is simple: we can't identify what their attitude is," said Trump at the time.