Instagram Influencers Partied at a Saudi Arabian Music Festival — but No One Mentioned Human Rights
Posts from MDL Beast’s high-profile attendees used the hashtag #ad or MDL Beast partners or brand ambassadors.
By Reis The, The Washington Postbault, Katie Mettler | Updated: 24 December 2019 15:41 IST
Instagram Influencers Partied at a Saudi Arabian Music Festival — but No One Mentioned Human Rights
Attendees used the hashtags #ad or MDL Beast partners or brand ambassadors
HIGHLIGHTS
The event was organised by Saudi Arabia's entertainment authority
It is part of its sweeping public relations strategy
Critics say it also serves a much more insidious purpose
On social media accounts of the followed and famous, the MDL Beast music festival was a rave true to form: fluorescent face paint, flashing lights and a star-studded lineup of DJs that spun dance music into the wee hours. Officially, the festival was "revolutionary," "progressive" and "a remarkable first" - superlatives many of its influencer-attendees reiterated in posts seen by millions of followers on Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat during the three-day concert that concluded Saturday.
What didn't make it into their captions and tweets, however, was any reference to reports that document the human rights abuses of the festival's host, the government of Saudi Arabia.
The event - along with the stars who were invited and possibly to attend - was organised by the kingdom's entertainment authority and is part of its sweeping public relations strategy to showcase its cultural change. But critics say it also serves a much more insidious purpose: to rehabilitate Saudi Arabia's damaged international image after the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, and as the death toll in Yemen, where the country is at war, continues to rise.
No comments:
Post a Comment