The Second Annual ASDA’A Burson – Marsteller Arab Youth Survey was carried out in October 2009. The face-to-face interviews involved 2,000 Arab youths between the ages of 18 and 24 across nine Middle East countries; the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon.

One of the big conclusions that were made out of this survey was that going to the mall is a major part of the Arab youth culture. There is so much more to do then just shopping in most malls in Arab countries. It’s a place to socialise, meet friends and neighbours.

The most popular and favoured international brand was none the less then the Finnish phone maker NOKIA. Other popular international brands were; Toyota (2nd), Sony (4th), Armani (5th), Rolex (6th), Pepsi (7th), Nike (9th) and many more.
They survey also included questions about which Arab airline the youth preferred to fly with. The local Arab airlines were the most popular; Emirates came out as number one followed by Saudi Airlines, Gulf Air, Qatar Airways and Egypt Air.

The one thing that’s crystal clear is that the Arab youth loves to go to the mall and knows what brands they like and dislike. Many of the malls in Arab countries are gigantic and maybe in the future shopping and walking around in them can be recognised as a sport?