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Burger King ads that will air on Arab TV channels across the Middle East poke fun at Americans’ ignorance of Saudi Arabia. Anchor Marco Werman gets the story from Caryle Murphy, correspondent for the Global Post news service.

Burger King commercials being tested for Arab TV

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MARCO WERMAN:  Burger King, the fast food second banana to McDonalds has long had the slogan, “have it your way”.  Well, some new Burger King ads expected to air in the Arab world will certainly have it their way; making fun of Americans.  In this ad, two Arab men are at a Burger King talking up two young American women.  A double story tent.  Now these ads aren’t on the air yet.  First they are being tested on You Tube where you can see them.  Caryle Murphy is based in Riyadh and she wrote about these Burger King ads for the online news service Global Post.  These ads are pretty funny, Caryle, who came up with them?

CARYLE MURPHY:  It’s a firm that does P.R. in Dubai and they were working for the Saudi based conglomerate Olayan, which owns the Burger King franchise in the Gulf area.  I found these on You Tube after a Saudi friend alerted me to them.  And I thought they were pretty funny.  They also were useful to sort of talk about the ignorance on both sides; among Americans about Saudi and the Gulf area and some Saudis about America.

WERMAN: And the young men in the ads, are they in fact Saudis or actors who play Saudis on TV?

MURPHY: No they are indeed Saudi actors.  They were found through a casting company and then paired up with these two other female actresses and the whole thing I think was filmed or made in Dubai.  There are actually three different ads.

WERMAN: They’re pretty funny guys.  And apparently they even speak in an accent that they are using to mock a Saudi accent, is that right?

MURPHY: Yeah, that’s true.  That’s a good observation.  One of the misperceptions among Americans is that Saudis don’t have a sense of humor.  But they actually do, especially the young ones.

WERMAN: Yeah, these ads prove it.  Let’s listen to another one.  It’s the same scene, these two Arab guys at a Burger King chatting up the two young American women.  One hump or two?  Who are these ads aimed at Caryle?

MURPHY: They’re really aimed at young Gulf people.  You know they have been raised on the internet now, and so they’re pretty savvy.  Many of them are wealthy enough to study abroad or travel abroad with their families.  So they are very savvy, especially about ways in the west.

WERMAN: These ads obviously play up the dumb American who knows very little about the Arab world.  But how widespread is that kind of belief in Saudi Arabia for example?  Do people feel that Americans are just unplugged from the rest o the planet?

MURPHY: Yeah, not only Saudis, but a lot of people in the Middle East do feel that Americans are just very ignorant of the political dynamics that work in the Middle East, not just about daily living, about the use of camels and tents and things like that.  There is a feeling in the Middle East that Americans, because they’re such a huge country and a rich country, that they really don’t know much about the political dynamics and the social dynamics in other countries.

WERMAN: It’s kind of an odd message though because it’s basically saying yeah, we’ve got these dumb Americans over there, but we’ll eat their delicious Whoppers.

MURPHY: Yeah, that’s true.  As dumb as foreigners might think Americans are, they really love American culture and American consumer goods and this is one of the things that is also driving the resistance to American culture among conservative parts of the population, especially among the religious community because they think the television and the internet are bringing too much of American consumerism to their country.

WERMAN: Right.  And I imagine it’s kind of, might be a little unconventional to have two Saudi men and two American women sitting together in a restaurant.

MURPHY: Absolutely. That’s why immediately you think that this is happening in the United States and not in the Gulf area.

WERMAN: Caryle Murphy is based in Riyadh.  She writes for the online news service Global Post and if you don’t mind cringing from some of the stereotypes some Saudis have of Americans, then check out the Burger King ads at the world dot org.  Caryle very good to speak with you, thanks a lot.

MURPHY: You’re welcome Marco.

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