The new image of Saudi cultural shift; MDL Beast music festival; Saudi Vision 2030

Abstract

Saudi Arabia is introducing new entertainment opportunities and undergoing significant cultural change as part of its new Vision 2030, which aims to diversify its economy away from oil. This will be done by increasing local spending and international tourism. This study seeks to understand how the MDL Beast music festival (held in December 2019 in Riyadh) was utilized by Saudi Arabia to portray its new image to the world through Instagram (a social media site). A mixed-method approach was used for qualitative research that interviewed three of the main MDL Beast festival organizers and analyzed 100 Instagram posts using the framing analysis method. Opening up to the world, positive change, and national pride were the most common frames to promote a new image of Saudi Arabia through the MDL Beast festival. MDL Beast festival sends the message that Saudi Arabia no longer confirms stereotypical conservative perceptions and has been changing.