Saudi Arabia: Lacks Credibility, Needs Reform

The latest issue (January 23, 2006) of Business Week Magazine contains a full-page advertisement for a Saudi Arabian-based global investment firm called Kingdom Holding Company (KHC). Unlike most ads, however, which virtually all exist to promote a specific product or service, this page seems to do little more than acknowledge KHC's contributions to the global economy by listing an impressive string of multinationals in which it has invested: PepsiCo, Apple Computer, eBay, Amazon.com, Hewlett Packard, Citigroup, Time Warner, Motorola, Procter & Gamble, Eastman Kodak, and many more. Given Business Week's ad rates, surely it seems that KHC cannot possibly muster a financial return on its media spend.

So what's the point of the ad? KHC's motive may at first seem strange, but a small disclaimer at the bottom of the page reveals all. Kingdom Holdings Company, as it turns out, is owned and controlled by a Saudi Prince named Alwaleed Bin Talal. That's right, the same Prince bin Talal who has donated money to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, whose $10 million donation to New York City after 9/11 was rejected by Rudy Giuliani, and who recently donated $20 million each to Harvard University and Georgetown University to finance Islamic studies.

As a Saudi royal family member, Bin Talal doesn't need to advertise to solicit new capital for his fund; petrodollars have given him more than enough. But with America waking up to Saudi Arabia's internal problems and promotions of Wahhabist jihadism, the prince desperately wishes to attain some credibility to help him cover his tracks and get the terrorism investigations off his back. Through this ad, hence, he desperately wants to convey the message that like anyone else, he's just a normal guy who invests to make money and help the global economy. For Prince bin Talal, this ad is a PR centerpiece.

But you know what - it's not going to work. For all the prince's attempted sugarcoating, the fact remains that Saudi Arabia is a repressive dictatorship that promotes jihadist ideology, offers few real freedoms to its citizens, and has resisted almost all attempts at true reform. If Prince bin Talal really wants to be known as just a regular guy, he could start by encouraging his homeland to allow free elections, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the emancipation of women, and an end to the support of terrorism. No PR campaign, no matter how slick, can cover up the truth.