<a href="https://secure.flickr.com/photos/byammar/2701802819/in/photostream/">Ammar Abd Rabbo</a>/Flickr
It’s gotten tough for Middle Eastern autocrats to keep up appearances. But Western PR firms are ready to help—for a price. As a disgusted former employee of Qorvis Communications told the Huffington Post, “These scumbags will pay whatever you want.” Some recent examples:
Hosni Mubarak
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PR headache: |
The former Egyptian president’s (above left) record of 26 years of economic stagnation and political repression |
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Image makeover: |
DC-based Qorvis Communications announces in 2007 that Mubarak has embarked on “a new era of open elections.” |
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Price tag: |
$125,000 |
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Bahrain
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PR headache: |
The 230-year-old monarchy answers calls for reform with arrests, beatings, and shootings. |
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Image makeover: |
Qorvis publicizes the regime’s $3 million donation to famine-stricken Somalia. Sanitas International and ex-Howard Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi sign on to provide “strategic communications counsel.” |
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Price tag: |
$40,000/month (Qorvis) Undisclosed (Sanitas/Trippi) |
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Syria
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PR headache: |
International condemnation for the bloody repression of antigovernment protests |
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Image makeover: |
Brown Lloyd James helps get First Lady Asma al-Assad (above left) a spread in Vogue. The magazine calls her “the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies” and Syria the “safest country in the Middle East.” |
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Price tag: |
$5,000/month |
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Yemen
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PR Headache: |
Months of demonstrations and violence threaten the Yemeni government, headed by President Ali Abdullah Saleh (above left). |
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Image Makeover: |
Qorvis does “media outreach” for the National Awareness Authority, a pro-government propaganda group |
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Price Tag: |
$30,000/month |
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Saudi Arabia
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PR Headache: |
The Middle East’s oldest ruling family, headed by King Abdullah (above left), gets a tad nervous about the Arab Spring. |
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Image makeover: |
A Qorvis press release emphasizes that the country’s restless youth—not oil—are “its greatest natural resource.” |
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Price tag: |
Undisclosed. (The Saudis paid Qorvis more than $11 million for similar work in 2002.) |
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Moammar Qaddafi
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PR Headache: |
The former Libyan president’s reputation as a megalomaniacal, terrorism-sponsoring despot |
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Image Makeover: |
Brown Lloyd James helps set up Qaddafi’s 2009 speech at the UN. Hopps & Associates buses in fans to watch and hands out T-shirts. The Monitor Group, a consulting firm, signs up “to enhance the profile of Libya and Muammar Qadhafi.” |
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Price Tag: |
$1.2 million (BLJ) $665,000 (Hopps) $3 million/year (Monitor) |
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