Can Influencers Improve Saudi Arabia’s Image?
The kingdom has struggled to repair its reputation since the Khashoggi murder, but it’s getting a little help from social media.
Influencers Aggie Lal and Morgan Oliver-Allen in the Saudi desert.
Source: Gateway KSA
Blond, tanned, and often posing in a swimsuit, Los Angeles-based travel blogger Aggie Lal might not seem like the obvious person to sell the virtues of Saudi Arabia. Yet this spring she was sharing updates with more than 800,000 Instagram followers as she explored ancient Saudi ruins and frolicked in the desert.
For Lal, 31, it was a rare chance to see a country like nowhere else in the world—and with all her expenses paid. It was a perk shared with other so-called influencers who make a living from their wide social media followings. For the Islamic kingdom, it was timely and helpful publicity as the country struggled to keep friends after the international outcry over the gruesome murder of newspaper columnist Jamal Khashoggi last year.