Dubai: British Embassy staff have once again come up with a creative holiday message to UK expatriates to celebrate in moderation ahead of Christmas and New Year festivities in the UAE.
Mission staff said on Monday that it was capitalising on the recent mannequin craze on social media with its own “Mannequin Challenge” video.
Last year, embassy staff reworked a Christmas carol and released Rupert the Expat Reindeer.
In a statement on Monday, the embassy said it is once again reminding “British nationals who will be enjoying the festive season in the UAE to do so in a way which is respectful of the country’s traditional customs and laws”.
This year’s video shows a typical Christmas tree and holiday table with family gathered around but with a twist — the scene plays itself out in the UAE desert.
Philip Parham, UK Ambassador to the UAE, said the visual imagery of the desert reminds expats they are far from home.
“With more than 100,000 of us living here in UAE, and around 1.5 million visiting every year, it is little surprise that so many British nationals choose to celebrate Christmas and New Year in the UAE,” Parham said in a statement.
“Every year, we at the embassy try to find fun ways to highlight the importance of being aware that our host country — and therefore its laws, customs and traditions — can be different from our home country. This year, we wanted to present a striking visual image to increase the impact of the message.”
The new video is being released on the embassy’s social media accounts.
In last year’s message, Rupert the Expat Reindeer narrated how some expatriate reindeers fall foul of the law because of not familiarising themselves with local customs.
The two-minute song, inspired by Johnny Marks’s famous song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, was released on the embassy’s social media accounts..
The issues covered in the song include alcohol licences, drinking in public, appropriate dress codes and the use of offensive language.
SOURCE: British Embassy in UAE
