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Original poster

New Dubai and - deeply uncomfortable

234 replies

UnderTheStairs51 · 31/01/2025 23:58

There seems to be a new ad promoting Dubai as a holiday destination.

The one that starts and ends with 'swim first'.

I have been sad enough to pause it and hands are bare of rings walking through the market so no indication they are a married couple.

You'd run a risk to behave in the way shown on a public beach surely. They are not in swimming gear so what's the implication here?

I do think people should understand local rules when they visit other places but this seems to send out a message completely at odds with this.

Just me?

OP posts:
ArtTheClown · 01/02/2025 13:58

I wonder why you think the average Brit would want strict governance where punishment was disproportionate to the crime?

I think the average Brit would settle for there just being any punishment at all for property crimes right now.

Goldenbear · 01/02/2025 13:37

Nelliemellie · 01/02/2025 10:44

Yes how liberal we are with free for all shoplifting. At least they have some strict laws.

Well some argue, I had a teacher that argued that theft was just and fair if society was set up in a way that was going to unequally distribute resources and this was after they were burgled! I'm not agreeing with them on that but I wonder why you think the average Brit would want strict governance where punishment was disproportionate to the crime?

Goldenbear · 01/02/2025 13:31

JacquesHarlow · 01/02/2025 02:36

My goodness, so many folk queuing up to share their zoomed-in, tiny piece of knowledge about Dubai and the UAE so they can sound “in the know”.

As someone who has lived there , plenty of unmarried couples hold hands. They don’t fill the jails with these people as a result.

BUT yes - open public displays of affection are discouraged. And so like anything in life, if you take the risk of being too PDA, then you would risk uncovering that you weren’t married. Which isn’t a problem in itself, but it just helps makes you a target so that if an Emirati didn’t like the way you were behaving under the influence or whatever, then there’s an “arrestable reason” you’ve just gifted them.

It’s like drinking. You get all the scare stories from people who read the Mail, but in reality you can drink here in the right places. What you then have to be mindful of is how you comport yourself. If you drink and you get loud, you do PDA, you act as if it’s Bournemouth town centre, then you’ll likely find yourself in hot water. If only it was like this here sometimes.

So yeah what I don’t get is why @UnderTheStairs51 thinks we should all somehow have the answer to why an ad maker didn’t use the image of a married couple in their ad? I don’t see it as false advertising - you can go there unmarried but you just have to be realistic and respectful, something that sadly many Brits find hard even in our own country.

It's not that though the Ad shows a Dubai that's liberal and easy going, a portrayal of romantic interactions on a beach, out and about, it is just confusing as it isn't Spain is it!

missmollygreen · 01/02/2025 13:28

ToothHurtyAppointment · 01/02/2025 01:26

I don’t really understand what you’re saying. I always see so much bashing of Dubai on here, but it’s not like how it’s portrayed on mumsnet. I lived there for a few years while teaching, and it is the safest place I’ve ever lived - I’ve lived in several
countries. I don’t live in the UK so haven’t seen the ad, but exactly what behaviours is the ad showing which would “run the risk”? Because I never wore my wedding ring when I lived there (I still don’t), and despite frolicking around on the beach and by the pool in a bikini and holding hands/kissing my husband in public, nobody batted an eyelid. Should have I been chucked in jail or beheaded or something??

Im guessing you were not gay when you worked over there?

ArtTheClown · 01/02/2025 13:23

At this point, it’s just a holiday destination for the non-U who want to feel wealthier than they are.

It's a bit ironic pointing a finger at Dubai while being a vicious snob.

DaphneduMaureen · 01/02/2025 13:02

colinthedogfromaccounts · 01/02/2025 08:04

I spent time with openly gay people. The enslaved people CHOOSE to earn more in Dubai than they could ever hope to earn in their own countries.

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And if it’s a choice, it’s not enslavement. I am talking about actual enslaved people. The UAE has an abysmal human rights record. At this point, it’s just a holiday destination for the non-U who want to feel wealthier than they are.

MrsSkylerWhite · 01/02/2025 12:42

LondonPapa · Today 07:36
You mean the guy who raped a girl as she was under aged? There were also a bunch of other implications. I hate to say it but he kinda deserved it as it was a literal fuck around and find out moment for him.

He did not rape a girl. It was consensual sex between an 18 and nearly 18 year old. Her cowardly mother waited to report him until her daughter was out of the country, presumably because her daughter could have been arrested too.

Would she also have “kinda deserved” a prison sentence?

arcticpandas · 01/02/2025 12:34

There is a special place reserved in hell for tourists who go to Dubai.

Original poster
UnderTheStairs51 · 01/02/2025 12:33

I don't wear a wedding ring.

But as a visual symbol in advertising or television aimed at a western audience it remains the primary way of conveying relationship status.

OP posts:
Agapornis · 01/02/2025 12:27

UnderTheStairs51 · 01/02/2025 10:24

I was asking specifically whether it would be a good idea for a seemingly unmarried couple to swim in the sea after a night out (in what attire or lack of?) in Dubai.

That is what this advert portrays and to me it feels an odd message.

I have not said people can't walk through markets and hold hands, just that this is the section of the advert where their hands are clearly visible and there are not any rings.

Muslims don't traditionally wear wedding rings.

Notgoodatpoetrybutgreatatlit · 01/02/2025 11:58

@ItWasnaMeGuv
It's me that thinks photo ID is unnecessary and politically motivated. My point is that voter fraud barely existed before photo ID was introduced. And it has had the effect of reducing voting hence why I consider it anti democratic.

heyhopotato · 01/02/2025 11:55

Ads aren't designed to reflect real life, that's why every time you get in your car you aren't speeding peacefully through empty mountain roads but stuck in gridlock traffic on the M25, and why your eye bags just look like your eye bags despite the so-called "HD 3D AI rejuvenating technology" in xyz miracle skin cream.

Dearg · 01/02/2025 11:48

Op, Totally with you in the naked swimming off a beach in Dubai but you have to drop the idea that no rings = no marriage.

Original poster
UnderTheStairs51 · 01/02/2025 11:40

lilyanna80 · 01/02/2025 11:15

What on earth are you on about? They're holding hands but not married and therefore this must be a problem because it's Dubai? Have you been there? I have lived in Abu Dhabi so obviously spent a lot of time in Dubai and promise you that it's a lot more liberal than you might like to think.

FFS I have not ever mentioned holding hands.

The bit of the advert I have a problem with is the 'swim first?' question at the end where they are walking on an empty beach in glitzy outfits from a night out (the ad starts with this as well).

This implies a type of behaviour which does not seem in keeping with Dubai, particularly coupled with the fact they are not represented as a married couple.

OP posts:
Jungfraujoch · 01/02/2025 11:28

And if you take the time to learn about the culture, history etc it’s very interesting. My DS moved there last year so I’m looking forward to my next trip!

Jungfraujoch · 01/02/2025 11:21

I’ve just come back from Dubai (first visit). I saw plenty of people holding hands in the Dubai Mall for example. Of course if you’re going to frolick topless with your partner on a beach it’ll be frowned upon (but I wouldn’t approve of that in any country tbh!). I enjoy a drink with the best of them but it was refreshing to go out for a night and not have to dodge the pissed up groups of people. It’s incredibly safe and very clean.

lilyanna80 · 01/02/2025 11:18

And sorry but MN's obsession with bashing the Middle East and their muslim culture reeks of racism under the guise of other concerns.

lilyanna80 · 01/02/2025 11:16

I and my gay male friend have stayed in hotels there together maybe 10+ times and never had an issue. Obviously not married. Obvious that one is gay. Nobody has ever, ever cared or mistreated us.

JPC123 · 01/02/2025 11:15

I’d never go back to Dubai. The taxi arrived at our lovely 5* hotel, the porter began to open the car door for me, saw I was female, and slammed it back in my face.

lilyanna80 · 01/02/2025 11:15

What on earth are you on about? They're holding hands but not married and therefore this must be a problem because it's Dubai? Have you been there? I have lived in Abu Dhabi so obviously spent a lot of time in Dubai and promise you that it's a lot more liberal than you might like to think.

mitogoshigg · 01/02/2025 11:11

@colinthedogfromaccounts

Not true, the wearing of the hijab is far more complicated than "a woman's choice" my friend wears a niqab because it would affect her husbands business if it appeared that he wasn't "in control of his wife" yet she's the strongest woman I know and it's her brains behind the business, her husband doesn't make her, it's all for show!! (On holiday she wears a bikini Grin) Doing things for appearances sake is a huge issue in the Muslim communities I'm involved with and the women I know aren't really happy but accept that it's for the greater good.

Remember it's very complex and the Muslim community is actually very diverse from so many cultural backgrounds, most of my friends are Indian (either Punjabi or via east Africa)

Lifelover16 · 01/02/2025 11:06

Turbottimes · 01/02/2025 08:12

Exactly this. Why the hell would anyone want to go to such a scuzzy, shallow, sexist place for a holiday? Grim.

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Not as scuzzy as the UK where kids get stabbed in school, swearing, fighting drunks are normal in town centres, pavement covered in puke and litter and robbing and mugging is commonplace.

ArtTheClown · 01/02/2025 11:05

I guess Amnesty International are batshit too 🙄

Absolutely they are. Have you seen their X account? They're constantly posting stuff like "Trans women are women" over and over again. They're not a serious organisation any more.

mitogoshigg · 01/02/2025 11:03

They have turned a blind eye to unmarried foreign couples for many years now. They want our money! I personally wouldn't visit for human rights reasons, particularly how workers from poorer countries are treated, modern day slavery etc, their rules on unmarried couples and alcohol are up to them.

Ncncncncncncncncd · 01/02/2025 10:50

UnderTheStairs51 · 01/02/2025 10:42

Would you have gone swimming in the sea with your husband after a night out?

My question in in regard to this specific piece of marketing, not the merits or otherwise of Dubai but whether this is an appropriate representation.

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If you are at beach open for night swimming, why not?