Action Alert: Stop Bigots From Pressuring Advertisers For TLC’s ‘All-American Muslim’





MPAC today called upon all concerned citizen to make their voices heard and contact Lowe’s and three dozen other major advertisers to reconsider their apparent decision to pull their advertisements from the new TLC reality television show "All-American Muslim." Lowe’s decision to pull its advertising follows a smear campaign initiated by infamous Islamophobes Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer.

SEE: “Lowe's Pulls Ads from 'All-American Muslim' after 'Ordinary' Portrayal Protested” (Entertainment Weekly)

“We can not allow political extremist such as Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller, who influenced the Norway terrorist attacks and right wing xenophobia, to alter and censure us,” said Salam Al-Marayati, MPAC President. “You can agree or disagree with the show, but all Muslim Americans have the right for the show to go on.”

TLC has recently been targeted by the Florida Family Association for airing the series, which follows five Lebanese American families in Dearborn, MI, as they juggle family, marriage, work, faith, community and tradition.

Following the premiere of the show on Nov. 13, veteran Islamophobes Geller and Spencer, co-founders of “Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance” called on advertisers to withdraw their advertisements, claiming based on their false and derogatory accusations, that the show "is an attempt to manipulate Americans into ignoring the threat of jihad." Their evidence? The show only follows law-abiding Muslim American families and doesn’t include terrorists and criminals.

They contacted 27 companies with this racist campaign, threatening to boycott them if they do not remove the ads. Their website boasts “25 out of 27 advertisers targeted in the Nov. 29th email alert did not advertise again during the Dec. 4th and 5th episodes. And, 65 companies that Florida Family Association targeted with emails did NOT advertise again during the only two episodes of ‘All-American Muslim’ that aired this past week.”

Currently, the only company that has publicly acknowledged and complied with the boycott is Lowe's, which issued the following statement:

"While we continue to advertise on various cable networks, including TLC, there are certain programs that do not meet Lowe’s advertising guidelines, including the show you brought to our attention. Lowe’s will no longer be advertising on that program."

“Lowe's should be ashamed for succumbing to this type of bigotry,” said Deana Nassar, MPAC Hollywood Liaison. “The show is an important effort to portray the everyday lives of a group of normal, mainstream Muslim Americans. Caving into the fear campaign initiated by thinly veiled hate groups sends the wrong message at the wrong time.”

The Muslim American population represents a niche consumer group that is largely untapped, proven to be loyal to brands, generally well-educated and best of all for marketers, it represents annual disposable income of at least $107 billion according to a new study by Dinar Standard.

ALSO SEE: "Marketing to American Muslims: The Largest Untapped Consumer Niche" (NOVA Advertising)

ACTION ALERT:

Call on Lowe’s to repudiate their stance by calling 866-900-4650 or emailing execustservice@lowes.com.



Ask what guidelines were crossed by the show, and tell them their decision to pull their advertising from “All-American Muslim” is unconscionable and should be reversed.



Here is a list of companies that FFA claims to have succeeded in convincing to cancel their advertising. MPAC calls upon these companies to respond to these claims. This level of hostility towards the Muslim American community should not be tolerated. Silence in this case is irresponsible and tantamount to sanctioning bigotry.



3M (Command, Scotchbrand tape)

Airborne Vitamin

Amway

Anheuser Busch Inbev (Select55)

Art Instruction Schools

Bamboozles

Bank of America (Cash Rewards)

Bare Escentuals

Brother International (Ptouch)

Campbell’s Soup

Capital One

Church & Dwight (Oxi Clean, Arm & Hammer)

City Furniture

Conagra (Hunt’s Diced Tomatoes)

Corinthian Colleges (Everest411)

Cotton, Inc.

Cumberland Packing (Sweet’N Low)

Dell Computers

Diamond Foods (Kettlebrand Chips)

Estee Lauder (Clinique)

ET Browe (Palmer’s Cocoa butter)

Gap

General Motors (Chevy Runs Deep)

Good Year

Green Mountain Coffee

Guthy Renker (Proactiv)

Hershey Kisses

Home Depot

Honda North America

HTC Phones

Ikea

JC Penney

JP Morgan Chase (Chase Sapphire)

Kayak.com, Kellogg (Special K)

Koa Brands (John Frieda)

Leapfrog Enterprise (Leapster Explorer)

Lowe’s

Mars (Dove Chocolate)

McDonald’s

Nationwide Insurance

News Corp

Nintendo

Novartis

Old Navy

Pernod Ricard

Petsmart

Pier One

Pfizer

Procter & Gamble

Progressive Insurance

Prudential Financial

Radio Shack

Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse

SC Johnson

Sears

Signet (Kay Jewelers)

Sonic Drive-ins

Subaru

HQ (uDraw)

T-Mobil

Toyota

Volkswagen

Vtech

Wal-Mart

Whirlpool