Syria Uses Game of Thrones Music in Video Promoting Aleppo as Tourism Destination
When the world thinks of Aleppo, images of bombed out buildings and dead children are likely the first thing to come to mind. But the Syrian Tourism Ministry apparently wants to change that and has released a promotional video featuring drone footage of the western, government-held side of the city. Sure, the rebel-held part of Aleppo may be a “living hell” for civilians, as the U.N.’s humanitarian chief said this weekend but the video posted on the ministry's Facebook page showcases beautiful parks and hotel pools.
The strangest part of the extremely bizarre video though is that it features a cover of the Game of Thrones theme song. Because, you know, setting your promotional video of the war-torn country to the theme music of a show about feuding families battling for control of a territory makes perfect sense. The video ends with a tagline: “Aleppo … Will of Life.”
As bizarre as it is, this is only the latest entrant to the showcase of the parallel world in which Syria’s Tourism Ministry apparently inhabits. Earlier this year, the ministry made headlines around the world when it released a video promoting the coastal town of Tartus as a vacation destination.
Illustrating how Syria wants to combat the image of Aleppo as, well, pretty much one of the worst places on Earth, last week, the state-run news agency tweeted a video of people in Aleppo allegedly enjoying the city’s “thriving nightlife.”
#Aleppo, now dubbed as the "World's Most Dangerous City", still boasts a thriving nightlife, as shown in one of this summer's events #Syria pic.twitter.com/kFUDtGvHME
— SANA English (@SANA_English) September 24, 2016
A tale of two cities: As eastern Aleppo continues to be hit with airstrikes, the Syrian govt has produced a tourism video for western Aleppo pic.twitter.com/5JX4SC0ola
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) October 1, 2016