HI! Says Bye!

This whole “improve America’s image abroad” thing is proving more difficult than we thought. The New York Times ran a piece yesterday about Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes entitled, “Bush Confidante Finds Latest Role to Be Uphill Battle.”

Now we find out that the State Department has suspended their magazine, hi, which was created to help foster a more positive image of America in the minds of many young Arabs. The State Department says that they need to “assess whether the magazine is meeting its objectives effectively.”

The magazine distributed 55,000 copies each month (although only 2500 were actually sold) in 18 countries and cost $4.5 million per year to run.

Read the full State Department release here.

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.