MEMORANDUM
TO: Karen Hughes,
Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy
FROM: Ramez Maluf
RE: Rebranding America
You have accepted what must be one of the hardest jobs the U.S. government has to offer: coordinating American public diplomacy and improving the image of the United States in the Arab world. The post has already chewed up several of your predecessors, including high–flying advertising executive Charlotte Beers. It's a particularly difficult portfolio because you have to operate within the parameters of a foreign policy that is deeply unpopular in the Arab world. Events such as the elections in Iraq and Afghanistan are helpful, of course, and progress on Middle East peace would be a boon for relations. But you'll probably struggle to improve the image of America in the face of hostile Arab public opinion.
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It's a daunting but essential undertaking -- and not just for Americans. Enmity between the United States and the Arab world does Arabs no good; Arab ambitions can only be achieved through the development of a positive and constructive relationship with the West in general, and the United States in particular. Here are some suggestions from the Arab side of the fence.
Create an Alternate Reality: For too long, Americans have thought of Arabs primarily in terms of regional conflicts. Arabs, in turn, have looked at the United States mainly through the prism of its policies on such divisive issues as Palestinian rights. To Americans, the word "Arab" conjures images of war, terrorism, and political Islam. To Arabs, the "United States" connotes a pro–Israel superpower that is occupying Iraq and imposing political and cultural changes. These stereotypes now run deep, and changing them is a long–term project.
There exists in some minds the notion that the United States can improve its image by somehow "winning the argument" over U.S. policy. Don't buy it. Defending American policy will always be an important element of your work, but if your office confines its activities to justifying U.S. policies, its success will be limited and you'll burn out in no time. This head–on approach actually restricts dialogue and cements the existing counterproductive imagery. Instead, your work must focus on issues over which you have some control, and where U.S. policy can do the least harm.
Don't waste your time disputing the stereotype. Move the argument elsewhere and introduce other images. The United States needs to change its "brand" in the Arab world, and the focus should be on images relevant to Arabs in their own context. Just selling an image of Americans as a freedom–loving and democratic people attentive to human rights within the United States will not do. Initiatives such as the $15 million "Shared Values" advertising campaign, which showed Muslims living in a tolerant and diverse United States, only reinforce the perception that Americans care little about the rights of peoples outside their borders.
The new U.S. brand should be relevant to the target audience and should vary from country to country. In Lebanon, support of the anti-Syrian movement was welcome and strengthened America's image. The United States is also strongly identified with Lebanon's educational institutions -- an association that you should seek to amplify. In other countries, support for certain political movements could benefit the U.S. image, but there is plenty of room to make progress on nonpolitical issues, such as greater Internet accessibility for the young (in Syria, for example, such an initiative would be welcome), irrigation of desert areas (as in Egypt), and better schools (North Africa).
The United States already supports many such programs, of course, but there is no real attempt to forge an image. To their credit, U.S. development agencies assess need and then parcel up aid in disparate projects accordingly. This practice has the effect of diffusing the public relations impact of U.S. aid. However important, a sewage treatment facility in the desert doesn't carry much PR punch. A more focused approach would be wiser. Imagine, for example, a publicized campaign to build children's parks in large Arab cities. The idea is to have public landmarks that are beneficial, friendly, and undeniably direct contributions from the United States.
Avoid a Pan-Arab Strategy: It's tempting to try a blanket approach for dealing with the Arab world. Arab countries, after all, have many shared values and a sense of common identity. But the 22 countries that make up the Arab world are distinct. Whatever their unifying historical traits, Arabs have been living under different regimes for decades, each with its own fault lines. If you choose to deal only with pan–Arab issues, you will be at a disadvantage; it is at that level that the U.S. image is weakest. Public relations is a nascent profession in the Arab world, but PR firms do exist in Beirut, Dubai, Cairo, and Riyadh. Seek their expertise on local strategies.
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