Sunday, September 07, 2008

Getting Way Too Close To Our Customers' Daughters

Today's New York Times Magazine has one of those multi-page supplements that advertise a country in the Middle East. This week, it's Ajman, "Jewel of the Gulf," or "Emerald of the Sand" or some such thing, as they are all known. As usual, it's a bunch of carefully scrubbed copy showcasing the desert boom of the United Arab Emirates, with glittering glass towers and opportunity at every corner. Sultans, Princes CEOs and Sheiks tell you in boring advertorial style that this is where you need to spend your money. "It's the new land of opportunity," their eyes implore from their official portraits.
And within this huge and very expensive PR piece are many easily mocked ads, and since it's early and I can't think yet, I'll go for the cheapest, easiest one. It's for Ajman Bank, where we see a young girl being given to the banker as his new bride as a down payment on a loan.

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4 Comments:

  • I had to go to the site to see if the copy was your work or the real thing. Amazingly, it was the real thing. I think Weird Al blew it doing "My Bologna" for "My Sharona." I want to hear "My Sharia."

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at September 7, 2008 at 10:34 AM  

  • Free children!

    (New accounts only.)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at September 8, 2008 at 12:13 AM  

  • Jokes apart...this is outrageous. Can you imagine someone advertising themselves as a Chrisitian/Hindu/Jewish bank in a leading daily of any Gulf country?

    How the hell does this bank expect others to understand and do business with it then? Shame on NYT to take on these ads.

    I'll be glad the day we stop tolerating the intolerant.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at September 8, 2008 at 3:49 AM  

  • Didn't that muslim prophet chap whose name escapes me take a 9 y/o girl as his wife? In that context, the pic seems entirely reasonable to me.

    By Blogger SchizoFishNChimps, at September 10, 2008 at 8:39 AM  

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