Posted on 08/09/2010 8:57:00 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Madrid: The Obama's holiday visit has had an advertising windfall of about €20 million [$26.45 million] in Spain, according to Kantar Media, a company dedicated to monitoring and measuring media and TV audiences.
According to the company, foreign media coverage brought about by the visit of the U.S. first lady has translated into a large-scale promotion of Spanish tourism. A survey conducted by the firm shows that the 1,423 news reports on the visit have a total economic value of $25.7 million [€19.3 million].
The figure arrived at by the company was calculated based on what it would cost if a publicity agent wanted to promote tourism in Spain. According to the firm, the agent "would have to spend that amount on advertising on order to achieve the same media impact."
In fact, the company emphasized how the Obama's visit to Costa del Sol, despite being characterized as private, has generated coverage "well beyond" other major issues, such as the air traffic controllers strike [1034 news stories], or the announcement by the Madrid Socialist Party's general secretary, Thomas Gomez, that he intends to be a candidate for the presidency of the Communities of Madrid [1012 news stories].
The Spanish cities that have gotten the most out of the Obama trip have been Marbella, Ronda, Granada and Mallorca. For his part, Malaga Mayor José Antonio Mena, where the Hotel Villa Padierna is located and in which the Obamas have been staying, said this trip was "a unique opportunity to promote tourism in Costa del Sol and project Spain into the U.S. market."
Kantar Media's survey also analyzes the impact and value in euros of the "Michelle effect" on the press, radio and television. The visit had more coverage in print news, 777 articles, followed by television spots, 346, and finally radio spots, 300.
In economic terms, the trip resulted in the greatest returns for television: $13.8 million [€10.50 million]; then newspapers: $6.10 million [€4.61 million]; and finally for radio stations, $5.52 million [€4.18 million].
The study focused on news published in the press, or broadcast on radio and television, nationally and regionally, from August 4, when the Obama's landed at Malaga airport, up to August 9, at the end of the visit in Malaga, when they had lunch with the royal family at the Marivent Palace in Mallorca.
The First Lady, her youngest daughter Sasha, and their group of friends left the Spanish coast and travelled to Ronda for a day of sightseeing accompanied by their vast security escort in a 13 car motorcade.
The group — which included a number of Mrs Obama’s friends – visited some of the town’s historic houses and later stopped for lunch at...”
[snip]
Meanwhile at the five-star luxury Villa Padierna, where the group have chosen to spend their mini-break, preparations were under way for Marbella’s event of the year...”
[snip]
One name on the guest list that could raise a few eyebrows among US diplomatic circles is Adnan Khashoggi.
The Saudi Arabian businessman, 75, who made his name as an arms dealer in the 1980s, was linked to the Iran-Contra scandal...”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/7931922/Michelle-Obama-visits-Ronda.html
Yeah, jobs created or saved, man, jobs created...
Nice of Michelle Antoinette to help the Spanish economy. Next time, vacation in the US, First Lady.
Just love those happy smiling faces.
It’s clear she brought her nasty face with her on vacation.
Words fail me. Evict them.
Well, she’s back now and this trip will be considered *old news*. They’re gonna stick with the “it was a private trip” and that’s all we need to know. Case closed.
Thanks for the ping.
So Michelle Obama Met Interesting Arms Dealer in Spain
Stranger than fiction. Good work!
To: kristinn Check out El Mundo today. It is reporting:Several Arab royal families also spend their summers in Marbella for many years. Thus, there will be a meeting between Michelle Obama and Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz, governor of Riyadh and brother of the late King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, while another meeting is shuffled from the first lady with the owner of Málaga CF, billionaire businessman, son of Qatar's Interior Minister and member of the Qatari royal family, Abdullah Al Thani.Haven't seen that in the American press.This link is to a google translation of El Mundo's front page. http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.elmundo.es/&ei=xsZdTNaUPML6lwegweiYCA&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCkQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Del%2Bmundo%26hl%3Den
Click on "Andulasia" at the top, look at the left hand column of articles about Michelle and click on "Pleasure and Vacation Policy Michelle".
The paper also reports Jesse Jackson Jr is staying at a private house in Marbella and she "could" meet with him. It doesn't say who owns the home Jackson is hanging out in.
14 posted on Saturday, August 07, 2010 5:47:23 PM by Brugmansian
*********
Looks like Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz's son "Ahmed" and telephone number mentioned here in the snippet below about the interrogation of Zubaydah [according to Posner] ? :
...When questioning stalled, according to Posner, CIA men flew Zubaydah to an Afghan complex fitted out as a fake Saudi jail chamber, where "two Arab-Americans, now with Special Forces," pretending to be Saudi inquisitors, used drugs and threats to scare him into more confessions. Yet when Zubaydah was confronted by the false Saudis, writes Posner, "his reaction was not fear, but utter relief."
Happy to see them, he reeled off telephone numbers for a senior member of the royal family who would, said Zubaydah, "tell you what to do." The man at the other end would be Prince Ahmed bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, a Westernized nephew of King Fahd's and a publisher better known as a racehorse owner. His horse War Emblem won the Kentucky Derby in 2002.
----- "Confessions of a Terrorist : Author Gerald Posner claims an al-Qaeda leader made explosive allegations while under interrogation," By JOHANNA MCGEARY, Time, 8/31/03
Thanks AWM!
Seriously, Louisiana and Mississippi probably could have really used the $26 million boost—Florida and TX too :(
lol they are busy trying to destroy American so why bring any business to them..they want us defensless..that means totlally broke.
lol they are busy trying to destroy American so why bring any business to them..they want us defensless..that means totlally broke.
They're never happy, never satisfied, and nothing they get is ever enough.
How can they be in such a beautiful place, with access to anything and everything they could possibly want, and still look so very miserable?
Check out photo and comment at # 34, then see post # 29.
[Thanks TheOldLady.]
The light dawns.
Make sure you read the entire thread and the accompanying thread that 29 comes from...There was more to that trip then initially meets the eye.....Unless you believe in pure coincidence.
Would you please give us an overview, now there are problems with the link. Thanks.
Jarrett, the Whitakers, Nesbitt, Blanchard vacationed over the holidays with the Obama family in Hawaii. The same group also traveled to Oslo in December to see Obama pick up the Nobel Peace Prize.The same group was also at the Nov. 24 State Dinner.
That was in addition to celebrating Michelle’s 46th together.
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