The Impact of Advertising and Media on the Arab Culture: The Case of the Arab Spring, Public Spheres, and Social Media

Abstract

The Arab world has experienced some unprecedented social movements, labeled by the media as the Arab Spring. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of public policy, advertising, media, and public spheres on the Arab Spring. The media and economic policies enacted in the Arab world in the 1990s played a significant role in changing consumer culture in the Arab region, resulting in significant changes in public policy. Two studies were conducted to test how the change in consumer culture along with new public polices in the region contributed to the uprisings.

KEYWORDS:

• advertising
• Arab spring
• cultural change
• political uprisings
• public policy
• public spheres
• social movements
• values