Yesterday I wrote about moves to fend off complaints about human rights abuses in the UAE with "rapid rebuttal" of critics. I suggested it's only a matter of time before the Emirates go down Bahrain's route, hiring a plethora of western PR firms and "reputation management" consultants.

Well, it's happening sooner than I thought. A reader in Dubaiposted a note on Facebook naming three PR firms with government contracts.

There's no suggestion that these firms directly condone rights abuses by the UAE, but the nature of PR is to "accentuate the positive" – and putting a cheery spin on things inevitably distracts attention away from more unsavoury matters.

One of the firms, Asda'a Burson-Marsteller, was hired by the UAE government in 2001 to manage communications for Federal National Council election. The FNC is a quasi-parliament and half of its 40 members are directly elected. 

A large part of the firm's task was to encourage Emiratis to turn out and vote. A more questionable part, though, was to "manage international and regional media expectations about the election" by presenting it "as next logical step towards wider political participation in the UAE" and "as a gradual process towards more political power – especially following the events of the Arab Spring".

That is certainly a very generous way of viewing the UAE rulers' intentions. A more realistic interpretation is that the elections were little more than a token gesture and the rulers have no serious intention of ceding power to democracy.

Incidentally, and aside from politics, Asda'a Burson-Marsteller also handled PR for the Dubai leg of Kim Kardashian's dreadful "milkshake" tour of the Gulf. According to its website, the firm managed to attract 400 journalists and bloggers to a press conference – which probably says a lot about the state of journalism in Dubai.

The website also mentions that Asda'a Burson-Marsteller waswriting tweets for Kardashian to post during her trip. Presumably this means some other PR firm wrote the tweets for her controversial visit to Bahrain – including the stuff about how much she loved the repressive little kingdom.

A second PR firm, Falcon & Associates, was established by a decree from the ruler of Dubai in 2009 – so it is closely linked to the government. It says on its website:

"We drive new, tangible initiatives and strategic communications that build on the emirate’s many successes to date, thereby helping Dubai to fulfill its long-term potential and enhance its global position as a financial, business and tourism hub ...

"Whether the end goal is economic, social or trade related, deepening the understanding and appreciation of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed’s vision for Dubai is central to what we do."

A third PR company, Edelman, is not very forthcoming about its UAE activities on itswebsite, though it says it was chosen by the National Day Committee "to co-ordinate celebrations to honour the United Arab Emirates’s 40th Anniversary".

• Note: An earlier version of this blog post referred to Falcon Media rather than Falcon & Associates – which was the name I had been given. Falcon Media lists the government of Dubai as one of its clients but appears to work in advertising rather than PR.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 12 December 2012.