Saudi royal family purchase large blocks of television airtime to clean up their image

Today's top story appears to be the news that the Saudi royal family has purchased large blocks of television airtime with the purpose of cleaning up their image. I think Crown Prince Abdullah has to realize that his image will need a lot of work to be shiny -- since all most Americans can see in Saudi Arabia is oil, sand, and terrorist masterminds. (Nothing's dirtier than oil, except for terrorist masterminds -- Osama in a cave or Yasser in a locked-up office without a shower.) Crown Prince Abdullah has been trying to improve on how Saudi Arabia is perceived in America -- for those not familiar, Saudi Arabia is perceived as the annoying rich snobby kid who behaves haughtily and occasionally throws oil in your face. This ad campaign reminds me of those feel-good ads the tobacco companies run every so often: "Sure, we're killing all your children with our addictive drug, but let's forget that because our employees tutor inner-city kids." The text of the different ads can be found here, though apparently the quotes from Bush and Powell are lies -- they actually said the exact opposite. From Electronic Media:

One of the spots, for example, starts with the appearance on the screen of a "misquote" from Secretary of State Colin Powell to the effect that "Saudi Arabia has been prominent among terrorist organizations"; the visual then dissolves to the "correct" quote: "Saudi Arabia has been prominent among the countries acting against the accounts of terrorist organizations." The voice-over narration intones, "Prejudice, fear and conflicting views can distort what you see and hear. Please keep you eyes, ears ... and especially your mind ... open." On screen, the tagline is seen.

The second spot begins with an on-screen "misquote" from President Bush that reads, "The Saudi Arabians have been less than cooperative." That dissolves into the real quote: "As far as the Saudi Arabians go ... they have been nothing less than cooperative." The voice-over for this spot is, "Read the editorials, tune in to the Sunday morning news shows or listen to talk radio if you want opinions. Listen to America's leaders if you want the facts."

Now that we've established that the Saudis are attempting to mislead the American public, it may be time for the Saudis to take more, um, truthful steps to fix their tarnished image. Happy Fun Pundit has suggested some slogans they could use. Among them are "The Rulers of Saudi Arabia: Not the world's biggest assholes" and "Saudi Arabia: Now with 40% less treachery!"

In my mind, the question is: Why? Not "Why are we totally dependent on a schizophrenic shiekdom for all our energy needs instead of trying to cut pollution and save money by using alternative energy?" Not "Why do we support a country which likes to go around beheading people?" Not "Why do we regularly laud the most anti-female, anti-Jew, anti-Christian, anti-half of Islam, conservative country on Allah's green earth?" Not "Why hasn't anyone noticed the marked similarities between Crown Princes Abdullah and George?" No, the question is "Why do we maintain that they're our staunch ally when they are virulently anti-promiscuity?" We're the country of free sexuality (as long as you're a white, male, married Christian with kids and a rifle) and yet we can condone the Saudi lack of sexual freedoms? It's time for the Saudi expat community, if there is one, to launch some good Saudi smut sites to influence a public which is deprived of popular sexuality.

NoMoreHajibs.Net! BurqalessBabes.com! (Ignore the pathetic ending to this post. I'm not in full possession.)