"Really?" - Egypt's "spy" TV ad draws jeers

By Nehal El-Sherif, dpa
10.06.2012

   Cairo (dpa) - A foreigner scans a crowd at a cafe until he picks a group of three Egyptians sitting in the middle. They welcome their guest and start chatting with him about political problems in the country.

   "From the beginning, he knows his mission and target," announces a voice-over to the advertisement, airing on Egyptian state television this week.

   And thus starts an ad, which creators say highlights the warnings of talking to foreigners who might be spies, but which critics say will only help foment xenophobia in Egypt, a country where tourism is a key foreign currency earner. The Egyptian public is left in the middle, trying to make sense of the ad and the backlash.

   Returning to the ad, viewers see the conversation unfolding.

   "Really?" the foreigner says in English, as a dramatic soundtrack throbs in the background abd his Egyptian interlocutors talk about transportation, prices and fuel problems.

   A woman in the advertisement says she has overheard talk of a conspiracy against the army on the subway.

   The foreigner begins writing a message on his telephone. The ad ends with the admonition: "Every word has a price, a word can save a nation."

   The advert has upset local rights groups and journalists, who warn it could reignite the hatred towards foreigners that accompanied last year's popular revolt, which removed Hosny Mubarak from power after a 30-year rule.

   During the 18-day uprising, state media kept talking about a "plot" against the country and sought to discredit the protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square by claiming they were receiving foreign money to destabilize Egypt.

   In the days before Mubarak's overthrow, many reporters, students, tourists and even Egyptians mistaken for foreigners were attacked by people on the street, who accused them of "ruining the country."

   The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information said Sunday the advertisement "brings to mind Adolf Hitler's media, that was run by (Joseph) Goebbels, who was notorious for his crude lies and malicious methods to control the public mind."

   "The lack of political will to reform the Egyptian media, especially the official media ... has resulted in such hate speech," the group added in a statement.

   Ahmed Maher, the founder of the protest April 6 Youth Movement, said the ad aimed at intimidating Egyptians.

   "It contributes to the distortion campaign targeting protesters by suggesting that their dealings with foreign journalists led to the leak of critical information about Egypt," he added.

   April 6, which has set up offices across Egypt, has faced a lot of trouble.

   Last year, the military rulers accused the group of being spies, funded and trained by foreign countries.

   During the first round of the presidential election, held last month, a member of the April 6 group in the northern city of Mahalla said some people had filed a case against him when they saw foreign journalists visiting the group's office.

   The advertisement has hit the airwaves days before the presidential run-offs scheduled on June 16-17, when Mubarak's last prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, is in a race with the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi for Egypt's top job.

   Egyptians, for their part, have begun making fun of the ad on Twitter, playing on the "Really?" question asked by the foreigner in the advert.

   "What we learn from this ad is that we should not talk about politics to someone who says 'Really?'," one user wrote on the social networking site.

   "I met a spy this morning who was asking about directions. I stayed silent for the sake of Egypt and let him get lost," wrote another sarcastically.

   A satirical video on Youtube opted to put its own critical voice-over atop the original ad, announcing: "If you want to stop tourism to Egypt, make an ad like this," before jibing the ad's makers for trying to goad Egyptians into guarding facts that are common knowledge.

   "Had he (the alleged foreign spy) switched on television, he would have known everything (about Egypt)," it continued before ending on the satirical note of: "Don't forget the password is 'Really?'"