Neom’s propaganda is failing to impress
No matter how hard Saudi Arabian ruler Mohammed bin Salman tries, he can’t seem to avoid failure. His latest major announcement, the creation of The Line – a “cognitive city” (whatever that means) in the Neom megaproject – may have seen hundreds of international publications writing the story up as something of interest, but most commentators who have taken the time to look into it are rather less generous.
Even the New York Times, which was initially swept away with excitement at MBS’s seizure of power, has since published a merciless take-down of his latest TED Talk-like introduction to the project. Journalist Robert F. Worth writes: “He calls the Line a ‘civilizational revolution’ to be inhabited by one million people ‘from all over the world’. Why anyone would want to move there, and why a city should be shaped like a strand of capellini, is anyone’s guess.”
Worth goes on to note: “The Saudi landscape is already dotted with failed or abandoned megaprojects. Some Saudis have responded to M.B.S.’s film with acid comments about the need to renovate the country’s existing towns and neighbourhoods before throwing billions into another Xanadu. Jamal Khashoggi suggested as much in a column written with a co-author a few months before he was murdered.”
Vice, on the other hand, features a story by Aaron Gordon ridiculing the premise of The Line. Referencing a failed 19th-century project for a “linear city”, he writes: “La Ciudad Lineal failed to [make people’s lives easier] because we live in three dimensions and it’s absurd to pretend otherwise, as will The Line, which exists in Mohammed Bin Salman’s head. I doubt even there it will do much to improve anything.”
But aside from publications taking a swipe at MBS’s desperate new project, social media users have made their own opinions known on Neom – which has recently splurged money on advertising on CNN, during major sporting events, on London billboards and Twitter targetted ads. Most people have reacted with confusion, like Twitter user Walton T Frost who writes: “Can anyone explain to me who is the intended target group for this Neom ad blitz? What are the Saudis trying to achieve with these ads? I’m confused.”
David Shoare tweeted: “What is the point of those ads everywhere for Neom (which I had to Google to find out that it’s plans for a new type of city in Saudi Arabia) it just looks like a massive vanity project…”
While Twitter user “Dr PC_Angry PHD QC” put it more succinctly: “What is that Neom TV ad all about?”
It would be unfair to feature all these negative responses and nothing positive… but there really is little to show. To most people in the world, the brand of Saudi Arabia is still synonymous with war crimes in Yemen, public executions and assassinating journalists. Spending millions on advertising to a random sample of westerners seems an unlikely way to ingratiate a bewildered, and often hostile, global audience.
Details: The City of The Future is Ruled by a Murderer Hollywood’s Lie Exposed by The Killing Of Khashoggi
