Sex and The City 2 uses Abu Dhabi to market its movie as a new international entertainment hub worth exploring to American audiences in a post 9/11 culture.How else is Abu Dhabi influencing your home and becoming a strong arm international entertainment? How is the city creating more opportunities for its residents? Abu Dhabi, anyone?
As I watched the movie, I enjoyed what I believe what the sequel was really about: the experience. I personally enjoyed it overall (minus a few dislikes). I appreciated the journey it took us internationally isolated Americans. So into a foreign land we went with Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda; we got to see them travel through a place where everything was dipped in traditional canvases and styled in modern accents. Although the film was filmed in Morocco mainly, I enjoyed the grand settings and fashion that infiltrated our eyes during the entire film scene after scene.
A few days after the movie, an international friend of mine invited me and a friend to go international with her next year-- take a trip to Abu Dhabi (and Ethiopia). I chuckled to myself..I thought how funny it was to plan a trip to the exact place that is featured in a major movie film. A little voice in my head said "great marketing." The movie won't be the reason why people go to Abu Dahbi, it's the opportunity of a colorful experience as portrayed in the movie. But it also led me to imagine how many other Americans are probably planning the same kind of trip after watching SATC2...
A few weeks later I'm on VEVO and start to question who owns it besides music corporations. So I went to where most of us go when we want to know more. Wikipedia. As I'm reading the first lines of the history behind VEVO, it lists the owners, but there is a foreign word just threw me through a loop. One of the owners of VEVO, is the Abu Dhabi Media Group. WOW!! Is this a coincidence?? And why are they a part of VEVO?? Although Warner Brothers isn't listed as one of the owners of VEVO, the company does have an agreement with VEVO for marketing and advertising. My mind raced as I looked up the producers (i.e. the distribution company) of SATC2, could I be right? Yep. Warner Brothers.
So how did they get involved?? And why?? We'll get into that, but let me make a few points about how SATC2 and Abu Dhabi successfully marketed itself into this post 9/11 culture.
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