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Cairo wages war on corruption with TV ads, but will it work?

The Egyptian government has launched a TV ad campaign aimed at combating corruption, but some fear it will be ineffective without structural reform.
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"Whether it’s deliberate or with good intentions, it’s still your loss and ours.” Under this slogan, the Egyptian government has launched an advertising campaign dedicated to combating corruption; commercials began to be broadcast on a number of channels starting with the beginning of Ramadan earlier this month.

One ad, which targets wasta — a term that roughly translates to cronyism, and refers to using one's connections to bypass or speed up procedures — depicts an official exploiting a government position and his ties to the head of an agency where he works in order to appoint the son of a personal friend to a position that he doesn’t deserve, without conducting any tests to determine his suitability for the position. Before the ad concludes, an outside voice stresses the gravity of such actions that destroy the possibility of a decent job for everyone.

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