Anti-Islam ads return to 10 Muni buses City Insider City Insider

They say history repeats itself - and sometimes it doesn't wait very long.

Case in point: the brouhaha over inflammatory anti-Islamic advertisements posted Monday on the outside of 10 Muni buses.

The ads, paid for by the controversial American Freedom Defense Initiative, feature photos of Osama bin Laden, a victim of the Fort Hood mass shooting, the Times Square car bomber and others, accompanied by incendiary quotes invoking weapons and warfare and linking them to Islam. One quote attributed to "Hamas MTV," reads: "Killing Jews is worship that brings us closer to Allah."

City leaders including Mayor Ed Lee, District Attorney George Gascón and Supervisors David Chiu, John Avalos, London Breed, Malia Cohen, Jane Kim, Scott Wiener and Norman Yee immediately condemned the advertisements as racist and "Islamophobic."

"These offensive ads serve no purpose than to denigrate our city's Arab and Muslim communities," said Gascón.

Muni, which believes a First Amendment court decision obligates it to accept the advertising, promptly said it would dedicate the $5,000 in ad revenue to the Human Rights Commission for a study of the impact of discrimination on Arab and Islamic communities in San Francisco.

The transit agency will also run its own "Peace" ad campaign that will appear inside 100 buses and feature messages against discrimination and promoting respect and love.

If this sounds familiar, it should. Back in August, without warning, Muni ran ads from the same group, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled as a hate group. The ad labeled Israel's opponents "savages." The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency was deluged with complaints, and eventually ran disclaimer ads next to some of the criticized ads, and donated the $3,800 in ad revenue to the Human Rights Commission.

This time, city leaders responded more quickly. But, of course, the controversial group will again end up getting far more attention than most ads that appear on Muni buses.

- Michael Cabanatuan

A marketing moment: The idea of a run across the new (and old) Bay Bridge over Labor Day weekend has barely been mentioned - there's not yet an official distance, course or time - but that hasn't prevented entrepreneurs from getting a head start on cashing in on the planned footrace.

See Jane Run, a San Francisco-headquartered women's running retailer, is offering a 14-week training course - for $150 - to prepare for what it surmises will be 10-kilometer and half-marathon races. Event planners and bridge officials have hinted at those distances as well, but nothing's official yet and whether races happen may depend in part on independent fundraising.

"Delight in the thrill of making history crossing the new Bay Bridge," says an ad for the training program.

Participants get weekly training runs starting in June, lessons in injury prevention and fitness, parties and running gear. And, perhaps, the thrill of running across the new Bay Bridge before it opens to cars.

However, Jane adds "a small disclaimer" to the training program: "We will ... target a different goal race if an unforeseeable event arises beyond our control prohibiting these particular races from taking place."

- Michael Cabanatuan