Idolator

In a move that will surely only heighten tensions between our cultures, Melody Tunes, the "first all-English music channel" in the Middle East, will blanket Arab countries with godawful American pop music, as it begins to "ramp up" an ad campaign (featuring TV commercials like the one above) for what Billboard calls an "anti-authority, rebellious channel targeted at Arab youth":

The campaign, which consists of six television commercials, five radio spots and print ads, plays off the idea of non-native English speakers singing along phonetically to songs by artists such as Akon and 50 Cent.

In the 30-second "Akon" spot, one teenager is seen writing on his living room wall while his friend watches him. The drawer's mother discovers him in mid-graffiti and smacks him to the ground. As he lies there, stunned, his friend begins singing and acting out Akon's hit "Smack That" over his prone body.

And the thinking behind this campaign, according to the ad agency's creative director?

"Everyone on the street tries to throw English into conversations to make themselves seem educated even when they're not. We thought it would be fun to make fun of that."

Wait, making fun of people who speak English as a second language for being "uneducated"? Are we sure an American ad agency didn't come up with this?

Melody Tunes Ramps Up Arab World Campaign [Billboard]