The US government has spent $70,000 to buy airtime on the Pakistani airwaves in hopes of countering fervor around an anti-Islam video created by a California producer.
The ad features Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton saying the government of the United States had absolutely nothing to do with the video.
Running on seven networks, the department of state hopes the TV messages can reach up to 90 million Urdu-speaking viewers.
Ms Nuland said the decision to buy the television ads, identified as paid public service announcements, was not unusual in countries where this is “the norm for getting your message out.”
“I think the sense was that this particular aspect of the president and the secretary’s message needed to be heard by more Pakistanis than had heard it, and that this was an effective way to get that message across,” she said.
She said it would take time to measure the effectiveness of the ads in Pakistan, where yesterday huge crowds again gathered to protest against the video.