Burj Al Blunder

Burj Al Blunder

So it’s fairly typical to see an outdated ad around town, but Kipp can’t help notice how unfortunately inappropriate some of ads can be.

April 12, 2011 5:01 by kippreport

So you may be wondering why Kipp chose to focus on ads in Dubai for two days in a row? Well, it is probably because we can’t just get over how unfortunately inappropriate some of them can be.

What’s spurred all of this? The photograph on this page was sent in by one of Kipp’s readers. He saw this one in Dubai’s International Airport just yesterday, advertising, what we assume to be, owning apartments in the Burj Khalifa.

“Making History With the World’s Tallest Tower” boasts the ad. Right next to that witty caption, is a picture of a lady with a big grin and an even bigger diamond ring on her hand [we’re not quite sure what they were going for with that one]. Next to grinning lady, is a smaller picture of the Burj Khalifa and “Burj Dubai: The Lifestyle the World Will Look Up To.”

“The Lifestyle the World Will Look Up To”—Kipp likes that part, but Burj Dubai? Is this just a case of serious denial or the one of the worst oversights in Dubai’s young advertising history? After all the change of name from Burj Dubai to Burj Khalifa is a rather sensitive topic that not many feel comfortable joking about. We expected just a little more caution if not sensitivity from the company’s own developer Emaar, to whom this ad belongs.

I guess we could excuse this kind of oversight, if the ad being displayed was spotted a week, a month and if we are going to stretch it, even three months after the name switch.

But come on, guys it has been more than a year and the shock has worn off by now. Even the Dubai Metro, who had listed the Burj Khalifa stop as “Burj Dubai” on all of its routes, in all of its trains and on all of its platforms took exceptionally speedy action to change it all.

Such a blunder a year and three months after the name was changed? Come on Emaar! That is just downright sloppy.