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Advertising Aleppo

10/21/2016

11 Comments

 
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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence
People have a variety of preferences when it comes to vacations.  For some, an ideal getaway is relaxing poolside, while others enjoy more adventurous activities, like scuba diving or mountain climbing.  Even the most fearless folks, however, usually don’t want to put their life on the line for a little leisure—something Syria doesn’t seem to understand.
 
The Syrian Ministry of Tourism has released a pleasant promotional video for Aleppo, aimed at encouraging travelers to visit one of Syria’s most historic cities.  The one-minute piece, entitled “Aleppo . . . Will of Life,” features sweeping shots of the city’s unique architecture, lush parks, and other landmarks. The enticing visuals play over a familiar music bed--the theme song for HBO’s Game of Thrones.
 
The creatively choreographed clips could cause one to give a visit to Aleppo serious consideration; that is, if one is like former governor of New Mexico and Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson who infamously asked in a television interview what Aleppo was.

With a population of over 1.6 million and an area of about 70 square miles (about twice as big as Paris), (5) Aleppo is Syria’s largest city. It was first settled around 5000 BC and has been recognized as a UNCESCO World Heritage site; although, most of the ancient architecture that earned it that designation now lies in ruins thanks to a civil war that has ravaged Syria and the city for about five years.
 
Because of the fighting, Aleppo has literally become a city torn in two. Under control of government forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, the western half has retained some semblance of normalcy.  That’s the part of the city that the Syrian Board of Tourism is promoting.  However, the eastern half of the city, controlled by rebels, Kurds, and ISIS, presents an entirely different picture.  “Entire blocks of buildings are reduced to rubble”  causing much of eastern Aleppo to look like “an obliterated wasteland” where people struggle to find daily necessities for survival.  In short, “It is a nightmare.”

As a result of the extremely volatile situation in Aleppo and other parts of the country, many nations (e.g., the UK,  Australia) have advised their citizens not to travel to Syria.  Americans have been similarly advised:

“The Department of State continues to warn U.S. citizens against all travel to Syria and strongly recommends that U.S. citizens remaining in Syria depart immediately. The security situation remains dangerous and unpredictable. Violent conflict between government and armed anti-government groups continues throughout the country. There is a serious risk for kidnappings, bombings, murder, and terrorism.”
 
So, why is Syria inviting outsiders into this dangerous environment?  An obvious answer would be that Syria is just trying to do what many other countries do—encourage tourism, which is an important source of income, especially for nations that lack other significant industry.  On the other hand, advertising Aleppo and other Syrian cities could be an attempt by the Assad regime to persuade a world concerned about the increasing loss of life and refugees that the country has everything under control: ‘All’s good here—see how peaceful it looks.’
 
Whatever the motivation for the promotion, it’s unfortunately likely that some imprudent people will accept the tourism invitation and, defying sound judgment and the many state-sponsored travel advisories, venture into the war-torn land.  Past indiscretions of travelers to Iran and North Korea offer some support for this speculation. 

It doesn’t help that the Aleppo video is decidedly deceptive.  Yes, advertising is advocacy, and advertisers are expected to put their best foot forward, but not at the expense of truthfulness.  It’s one thing to portray a product in a positive light; it’s another thing to obscure the product’s real nature.  Some have suggested that the Game of Thrones theme is an eerily appropriate choice for the Aleppo ad, given that “the show's fictional world of Westeros is a violent place engaged in its own bloody civil war.”  The music, then, might be the only part of the video that isn’t misleading.
 
Thankfully, most people are rational and will reject Syria’s tourism invitation.  Still, there are those few foolhardy folks who don’t need any extra encouragement to put themselves and others in harm’s way.  For these reasons, advertising Aleppo as a travel destination must be considered “Mindless Marketing.”
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11 Comments
Veronica Gomez
10/22/2016 03:18:14 pm

I can confidently say that Syria is not the place to be right now; Syrian refugees fleeing across the world is argument enough, for me. And although I agree that this advertisement is an example of Mindless Marketing, could it be that the person who created it did so to show the world what Syria once was and the potential that it still has? I may be completely wrong, but could it be a way for Syrians to continue to draw attention to their country so that neighboring countries may feel compelled to help them when they see that their country wasn't always in ruins? Could it be that it was a joke, "Come to Aleppo!" was created to force people to think about what Syria is truly currently going through?

If not, this is probably one of the best examples of Mindless Marketing out there today. I just couldn't help but play the viral video's of the bombings, the rescue teams pulling dead children from the rubble, wife's clutching their dead husband's bodies, the children crying for their dead parents, mothers holding their dead babies, over and over in my head while I read this entire blog.

So maybe, just maybe, its purpose was to remind people of Syria's reality.

Reply
Rachel Stanley
10/23/2016 05:06:11 pm

This simple advertisement was shocking to me. After reading the news about the war in Syria for the past few years, it’s hard to believe that they would try to promote this city as a nice place to visit. A quick Google search of “Aleppo, Syria” provides enough evidence to dissuade anyone from going there for vacation or tourism. This advertisement is more a source of propaganda than it is a promotion. I like how you made the distinction between advertising and lying. I agree that, although advertising is advocacy, it should not be done at the expense of the truth. This advertisement is definitely an obstruction of the product’s real nature.
The music is the most interesting aspect of this advertisement. It is as if the marketers wanted to make it seem like the most interesting place to visit. Anyone who watches Game of Thrones knows the plot is based on a civil war, and anyone who watches the news knows about the civil war in Syria. I almost wonder if this correlation was done on purpose in order to entice an adventure-seeking consumer into exploring a real life version of Game of Thrones.
I do hope that no one falls for this advertisement and actually travels to Syria in the midst of this conflict.

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Kathryn Doherty
10/23/2016 05:12:21 pm

Yes I can definitely agree that Syria i not the place for tourists to go right now. There is a reason so many Syrian nationals are fleeing for their lives right now. I think that this advertisement trying to get people to come to Syria is their way of trying to bring in outsiders to boost their income. So many countries rely on tourism for income, on top of their usual income from their own citizens. But because so many of their own citizens are fleeing from their country they are loosing stability in their income. This is why I think they are trying to get outsiders to come in. I also do think it is a plausible explanation that they are trying to put up a front of being perfectly okay to the world because the world is thinking the worst of them right now. But I would strongly discourage anyone form traveling to Syria right now. There is just too much that could go wrong, and safety for tourists is not their countries priority right now.

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Christopher James
10/23/2016 08:46:10 pm

This advertising for Aleppo does seem to be mindless mainly in the fact that it does not uphold societal values. There appears to be quite an issue with advertising a war-torn area that potential vacationers could somehow be unaware of. I think it would be hard to disagree that their marketing seems to be harmful and thus immoral. On top of this, there is not much value for the stakeholder. Because there is such a large risk with traveling to Aleppo, there would not seem to be a large benefit of going there above another vacation spot. Although there are parts of Aleppo being displayed that entices the consumers, the advertisement itself is not showing the whole picture nor giving an accurate description of Aleppo. It is unfortunate that we see this kind of mindless marketing that could potentially bring harm to those who are enticed.

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Blake Shannon
10/24/2016 12:42:23 am

This advertisement is false in my personal opinion because Syria has proven to the world that in this day and age, they are not a safe place to visit right now. This technique could be very harmful to tourists who may travel there. This is not moral because they are not looking out for the best interest of their customers. They do not have any amenities that would draw the consumer to choose them over any other vacation location unless they alter the vision of what they are all about. They are doing this because they are losing income and are compensating morality to try to fill their pockets.

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Sierra Pereyra
10/24/2016 03:39:34 pm

It is scary how easy it is for someone to see a commercial for Aleppo and travel there for vacation. If I had not been made aware of the risks, then I would be interested in visiting. I wonder if there are warnings that pop up when people attempt to purchase plane tickets or other travel means. Typically, I like to do research on the places I desire to travel to, but for someone who is simply looking for a good time to spend their extra money on, research may not be so important. It seems like mindless marketing works best when consumers mindlessly make purchases. I also think that the fact that they must use such misleading advertisements shows how desperate they must be for that income.

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Inho Chung
10/24/2016 10:21:43 pm

I have never heard of Aleppo before, so this posting was very interesting. Personally, I think it is individuals who should be responsible for the choice they make. I am from South Korea and we can not travel North Korea. As mentioned in the text, traveling North Korea is risky and I can't understand people traveling N.Korea. However, there are many people going N.K and some people go into trouble. So, it is up to individual to decide whether they travel or not.

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River Fawley
10/24/2016 11:12:29 pm

At first glance this promotional video of Aleppo is quite appealing. It intrigues the viewer to actually look into going to Syria. However, with recent and current events involving syria this advertisement puts a false vail over the city. The video shows the city to be peaceful, first world, with great potential, however in all reality Aleppo has been war-torn. By this piece of tourist marketing ploy the safety of tourist are put at an extreme risk in trying to lure in tourist.

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Cristina Schmitter
10/25/2016 02:09:41 am

This advertisement was extremely shocking to me. I find it extremely ironic and seems more appropriate for it to be satirical rather than an actual advertisement. I was wondering what their motives were and so the analysis of motives mentioned in this article was helpful. I would agree that this is a prime example of mindless marketing.

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Philip Westwood link
10/25/2016 02:47:31 am

This was very mind blowing and eye-opening to me since this ad looks promising, but hold a inaccurate portrayal of what is really going on. Most definitely they will be suffering from customer dissatisfaction in the long run.

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Isaac Delgado
10/29/2016 03:23:11 am

This a bold move by whoever is in charge of marketing for this campaign. An even bolder move would be if someone actually went through with going. I can see this as being something of a parody advertisement, but the fact that it is real is quite shocking to me.

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