In the age of the influencer, social media stars are frequently used to promote new products as they encourage their followers to open their wallets and follow suit.
However, a bizarre and specific new TikTok trend appears to be taking shape where mothers and young women are showing off their lives in a new compound ‘city’ in Saudi Arabia; Neom.
Neom, which has its own futuristic-style website, is a new city being built in the north west of the country; championed by Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The total cost of the project is as yet unknown, but reports suggest that, by its projected completion date of 2039 it will total somewhere around $500billion.
The development has also been under scrutiny after it was reported earlier this year that Saudi forces were ‘told to kill’ in order to make space for the development, which is also designed to be an eco-friendly project. The Saudi government has not commented on these accusations.
But the average TikTok viewer would have no clue about the controversy surrounding Neom from the glossy vlogs posted by ‘mum-fluencers’ who are among the first people to move to the new city with their husbands, who appear to be working for the development.
Saudi Arabia’s controversial ‘eco-city’ Neom is the backdrop to glossy ‘day in the life’ videos on TikTok as ‘mumfluencers’ are showing off their seemingly perfect lives on the compound
The TikTok stars project utopian ideals about the development, where children can play safely in the playgrounds and have plenty of peers to befriend at school, there is virtually no traffic, and non-working mothers can enjoy coffee mornings with their pals.
The families visit a food hall at the centre of the development where they enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner in a buffet-style setting. There also appears to be a Starbucks in the middle of the city.
In one clip, which since appears to have been deleted, South Africa-born Jessica Herman reveals a ‘day in the life’ in Neom after she and her husband moved there with their two sons in recent months.
Shots of Neom in its infancy, which is just a camp at present for staff working on the development and their families, show the purpose built homes, cafes and parks
Neom (pictured) is set to cost $500 million and is funded by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, plus domestic and overseas investors
In particular, she focuses on her evening as she gets the children ready to go to dinner, where she meets her husband who has just finished work.
She shows herself walking on what appear to be largely empty roads as she heads to the food hall.
After meeting her husband, Jessica reveals what the brightly-lit dining hall looks like as she surveys the wide selection of food on offer and boasts: ‘We have the best fruit here.’
When the family has finished dinner, Jessica shows her oldest son running around and says: ‘Now it’s time for [him] to run around and go crazy until he gets completely exhausted.’
The ‘day in the life’ clips, many of which have been deleted since they went viral, show mothers spending their time going shopping and having lunch in the food hall
Elsewhere, a vlogger named Aida McPherson, who describes herself as an ‘expat’ living in Saudi Arabia, has revealed her daily life in Neom which includes going to Starbucks in the morning for an iced coffee, before sitting with ‘the girls’ for a catch up.
She also visits the communal food hall for breakfast, which runs for a certain time period in the morning.
In one video, she describes her visit to the Tabuk Park Mall, one of her ‘favourite places’, via a coach.
Aida films herself folding down her pram to put it in the coach, where she takes a seat with her friends as they travel to the mall.
One influencer, Aida McPherson, has posted several day in the life clips in Neom, but some have since been deleted
Once there, she visits a supermarket called Lulus where she buys dried fruit. A glimpse inside the mall reveals some well-known brands including Timberland and H&M have shops there.
She visits McDonald’s for lunch before doing some shopping for her children. As she heads home, the coach passes a sign which says: ‘I [heart] Neom.’
In a comment underneath her video, Aida explains that the city is currently a ‘construction camp only for employees’.
She explains: ‘You need to work for Neom in order to stay in the camp.’
Elsewhere she adds that her husband was offered a job in Neom, which was why she and the family decided to move there.
In another clip, Aida shows herself visiting the supermarket after feeling ‘bored’, before later going to a friend’s apartment block for a visit.
She appears to travel to her friend’s home on the back of a motorcycle-style taxi service, which drives through largely empty streets.
Sara Sid, who appears to be friends with other mothers who live in Neom, has also posted vlogs about living in the Saudi city
Another expat, who goes by the TikTok handle GGNEOM, posts clips of herself living in the Saudi compound while also quizzing her friends on what they enjoy about living there.
In one clip, she asks people to finish the sentence: ‘If you live in Neom…’ and shows different people’s responses to the prompt.
One woman says: ‘You have a lot of support to self heal’, while another says: ‘You enjoy a lot of sports.’
One of the women asked the question is Aida, who replies: ‘You will have the best community and lots of food.’
Elsewhere another mother Sara Sid, who appears to be friends with some of the other mumfluencers, showed followers what her average day looks like – including two visits to Starbucks.
According to Neom’s website, the eco-city’s ‘vision’ is to become a ‘global hub for business’ by ‘building a future-oriented and sustainable economy’.
It promises to be ‘nature friendly’ and claims ‘protection, preservation and regeneration sit at the core’ of its model.
It suggests that the development of the city is powered by $500billion from the Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and ‘local and international investors’.
The city, projected to stretch across 170km, is set to feature five regions including The Line, which is set to accommodate 9 million people alone and promises to provide all residents with ‘all daily essentials within a five minute walk’.
Accompanied by a bold vision and futuristic artist impressions, the Neom project sells itself as a utopian ideal which solves the climate crisis and presents a new way of living.
Mohammed bin Salman said of the project: ‘We cannot ignore the livability and environmental crises facing our world’s cities, and NEOM is at the forefront of delivering new and imaginative solutions to address these issues.’
However, behind Neom’s shiny facade, promoted by the project itself and the TikTok expats promoting it online, are some distressing accusations, after a former CIA agent claimed construction companies on the site were given the green light to demolish entire indigenous communities in order to build it.
Col Rabih Alenezi told the BBC he was ordered to evict villagers from a tribe to make way for The Line, the core part of the project.
He claimed one of the villagers who protested the eviction was shot and killed. The Saudi government refused to comment on the allegations.
The Colonel, who is now living in exile in the UK, claimed the villagers were from the Huwaitat tribe which has lived in the region for generations.
Meanwhile, many of the vloggers’ videos about living in Neom aren’t being particularly well received by viewers who aren’t convinced by the way of life there.
After Jessica Herman’s TikTok clip was reposted on X/Twitter, people suggested the clips were a ‘marketing strategy’.
It is not clear if the vloggers are part of an official marketing strategy to promote Neom; however in 2019 influencers landed themselves in hot water after partnering with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to help it repair its image following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Names including Australian Gab Scanu and Tara Whiteman visited the Arab nation on sponsored trips where they posted glossy and upbeat videos of their tours around the country – without mentioning its human rights abuses including beheadings of its citizens.
Dt Raihan Ismail, lecturer Australian Nationality University told the Guardian: ‘The Saudi government is investing so much in trying to reconstruct its image.’
As the city of Neom is still in the early stages of its development, viewers don’t appear to be convinced by what some are calling a ‘wasteland’.
One person said: ‘Imagine living somewhere called ‘Neom Community One’ and not thinking you’re in the beginning of a horror!’
Another joked: ‘Oh wow this looks great I’ve always dreamed of living in an industrial estate on the surface of the sun.’
‘Walking through an empty scalding hot parking lot with my toddler children to go eat at a space mining colony dining hall,’ another quipped.
Jessica Herman now appears to have deleted her TikTok account. Meanwhile, Aida McPherson also seems to have wiped one of her ‘day in the life’ vlogs from her TikTok account.
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