Inspired by Mohamed

There is a website called, ‘Inspired by Mohamed’ which is an attempt to sell Islam to British people as if it was some wayward form of Tibetan Buddhism.

This has annoyed the hell out of a lot of people not the least of whom is one of Vlad’s readers, ‘Proud Kaffir’ whos lucid and cutting comments you will find on many of our posts as well as his most excellent drawing of Mohamed he contributed to Vlad’s ‘Everybody Draw Mohamed day’ video.

PK makes his point as well. I bet a lot of you can come up with some more ideas for this series. I say we keep it going. Post your suggestions for Proud Kaffir in the comments. I have a few of my own such as, ‘Murder the husband and son of a family right in front of the wife and mother of them, then rape the surviving woman and tell everyone its OK, you “married” her. Then use the fact that you slaughtered all these people cause they where Jews who wouldnt follow you as messiah and raped and enslaved the good looking women as proof that “Islam doesn’t hate the Jews. Mohamed had a Jewish wife!”

Eeyore



This would appear to be an editorial about the campaign which inspired Proud Kaffir:

H/T Snaphanen

Simon Houpt Marketing Reporter
Globe and Mail Update

Which multinational brand has the biggest image problem these days? BP? Toyota? Goldman Sachs?

How about Islam? Say what you will about those other entities: They don’t have to deal with the public’s fear of terrorism.

Last month, an opinion poll conducted by the online research firm YouGuv found 50 per cent of Britons associate Islam with terrorism, 69 per cent believe the religion encourages the repression of women and 41 per cent don’t feel Muslims have a positive impact on British society.

While the specific numbers might vary from one country to another, the impressions are similar across the West. Last Sunday, during a rally in lower Manhattan opposing a mosque planned for the former World Trade site, protesters held up signs that read, “All I need to know about Islam, I learned on 9/11.” Sure, that’s like saying, “All I need to know about Christianity, I learned during the Crusades.” But it points to a bald fact: Islam has some work to do.

Which is why this week large posters began appearing on the London Underground and at city bus stops featuring three Britons who are seeking to put a different face on the religion. In the most genre-busting ad, a blonde woman without a head covering smiles prettily from the shores of a lake, accompanied by text which reads: “I believe in protecting the environment. So did Muhammad.” The woman is Kristiane Backer, a former MTV Europe host and convert to Islam who is identified as an “eco-Muslim.”

Another ad features a female barrister in a veil with the text, “I believe in women’s rights. So did Muhammad.” A third has a man who is identified as a worker with a homeless charity, stating, “I believe in social justice. So did Muhammad.” The campaign extends to a handful of taxis painted colourfully with quotes from the prophet. The ads point to a Website, InspiredByMuhammad.com, where a dozen short videos offer a progressive Islamic take on subjects such as animal welfare, charity, education, health, and coexistence.

“We wanted to highlight areas that are buzz terms at the moment,” explained Remona Aly, a spokesperson for the Exploring Islam Foundation, the small group of young Muslim professionals which created and is sponsoring the campaign. “The environment is a really hot topic at the moment, and people are not aware Muslims are encouraged to care for the environment by the prophetic teachings and also the Koranic teachings.”

Noting the Foundation’s motto is “mainstreaming Islam,” she added that the campaign uses bright colours – hot pink, orange, pastel blue – to counter the religion’s usual image. “We wanted it to be attractive and accessible. Often people associate negativity – gloom, gloomy colours, black – with Islam, so we purposefully made it colourful so it would be more attractive.”

If the campaign’s goal – rehabilitating the battered reputation of an ancient religion – is unusual, its tactics are torn from the pages of contemporary marketing textbooks. Most marketers these days try to appeal to consumers by leveraging shared values: In recent months, Coca-Cola has heavily promoted its environmental bona fides while Pepsi is sponsoring community improvement projects around North America.

“You can’t throw a brick without hitting a cause-marketing campaign,” noted Mara Einstein, an associate professor of media studies at Queens College in New York, and the author of Brands of Faith: Marketing Religion in a Commercial Age. “At this point, it’s the price of admission.”

The approach of InspiredByMuhammad fits in that mould. “You could have been selling Dawn dishwashing liquid or you could have been selling Islam, it’s all the same thing,” she said.

“You’re using the same emotional needs of people wanting to do good, but you’re using that to sell almost any product, and I consider religion to be a product.”

This is not the first time a mainstream ad campaign has tried to persuade Britons that Islam isn’t dominated by terrorists. After the July, 2005, London bombings, an ad-hoc organization quickly responded with a campaign known as “Islam is Peace.” A video in that effort inter-cut the smiling faces of children with text stating: “Islam is not about hostility … Islam is not violence.”

Mentions of hostility and violence are absent from the new campaign, which is designed to be upbeat, confident and optimistic. Asked to name the root causes of the misconceptions about Islam, Ms. Aly replied: “We’re not really into the blame game. Obviously, the nature of media is that it talks about crises or bad news, so because of that, unfortunately some tiny extremist elements have been highlighted in the press.”

While some believe the best way to repair Islam’s image is to reform the religion itself, Ms. Aly said the foundation is not interested in debating hardliners. “We haven’t entered into any dialogue with extremists, because we reject any extremism and we reject violence along with our fellow Britons, because they’re against the values of Islam or against the prophetic values.”

But if the campaign’s aim is to educate people about Islam’s progressive values, Ms. Einstein believes it’s missing the mark. “I never would have read those ads that way. I read those ads as proselytizing, as evangelism,” she said.

“By putting a person on it, saying ‘I believe in social justice and so did Muhammad,’ you’re giving the viewer of that advertising someone to connect to, and that’s how you sell a faith,” she explained. “If you wanted to change the impression of Islam, I’d think you’d actually show the good work, and not the person who believes in it.”

Ms. Einstein cited a campaign by the United Methodist Church in the United States that shows members working in underdeveloped countries. “If you actually showed Muslims going to Haiti, and helping with the earthquake, that would say to me you’re trying to change the image of the faith.”

Ms. Aly replied: “We do not seek to preach or proselytize. We simply wish to provide accurate and accessible information about Islam for a mainstream audience in order to foster better understanding between the diverse communities in Britain.”

But as it seeks to clean itself up, Islam may face the same sort of problem as BP: that advertising alone can’t fix an image until the core reason for that bad impression – be it an oil spill or terrorism – is solved.

In an e-mail discussion, Islamic critic Irshad Manji scoffed at the British campaign. “Mainstream Muslim behaviour is the reason so many Brits have a negative view of Islam,” she wrote. “They have not adequately challenged their spokespeople – the Muslim Council of Britain, for example – to become inclusive and pluralistic [or less insular and dogmatic]. Posters and videos don’t change that situation; they only seek to spin a happy image of a corrupt reality. I say it of British Muslims no less than of BP: don’t tell me what you believe. Show me what you do, and that tells me what you believe.”

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

26 Replies to “Inspired by Mohamed”

  1. I think there is plenty of people out there who buy those lies on the taxis. There are people who do not really care about Islam and hear the odd snippet on the Media about it being a religion of peace. That is something then that actually goes on to form their viewpoint. It really affects people who think that they think for themselves, like the West hating extreme lefties and the 9/11 conspiracy crew who think everything is controlled by the Illumaniti. Actually, these people could not think for themselves if their life depended on it. Islam is pretty fragile brand when it needs politicians and the media to constantly tell us what a wonderful thing it is. What a huge amount of advertising it needs. Still it does work all of the time with the usual crowd of idiots. It also works well with Arab conquered Africians from Somalia who spend their time in a state of worry about the Palastinians who are among the fattest people in the world. Strange world! The thinnest and most desperate people worrying about the fattest and most looked after group in the world. Actually, we do that in Iran too and the Iranians are in a complete mess with drugs, prostitution, and poverty.

  2. I love the smell of live, grilled Jewish flesh….so did Mohammed (when he wanted to know where the treasure was.)

  3. I called it as soon as this campaign started. It was only a matter of time before this got hijacked in a “Fail” poster kinda way.

    These ones are a good start. Time to start pasting them about lads and lassies.

  4. Here is one that is inspired by Islam (not sure if it is true) but I will believe the one that has nothing to hide:

    “US President told him (Adul Gheit) that He was still a Muslim

    Adul Gheit claimed Obama told the Arabs to show patience. Obama promised that once he overcame some domestic issues, like the Health care reform, he would show the Muslim World how to deal with Israel.”
    http://beforeitsnews.com/news/76/647/Egyptian_minister:_Obama_told_me_he_is_a_Muslim.html

  5. I believe in sharp cutting knives and swords
    So did Mohammed
    ——
    I believe in stoning women after burying them neck deep
    So did Mohammed
    ——–

    I believe in stringing up homos until they are dead cold
    So did Mohammed

    Man…. this could go on and on endlessly.

  6. OxAO – I hope that’s not true re. the link you posted…. however, I can believe anything where Obama is concerned. He is truly the worst Prez the USA has ever had. Goes to prove that USA has millions of lefties and that spells disaster in the making down the road.

  7. Question…. How many religion, other than Islam, have to repeatedly run campaigns to try improve its image.
    Answer….. Equals the number of triangular planets in the Solar System.

  8. I believe that the voice I keep hearing in my head may be coming from Satan. – So did Mohamed.

    I believe that it is okay to lie. – So did Mohamed.

    Since I believe it is okay to lie, I can say that Mohamed believed in Women’s rights and all sorts of wonderful things.

  9. these images are anti-islam . Islam is the mercy , kindness , and virtue.
    did injustice and the enemy of Islam

  10. And we see the evidence of that mercy wherever muslims are over 4% and today in Canada where muslims kill women relatives or force them to marry cousins

  11. the act vicious ,like the killing , the wedding out of propostio or legitimate , the injustice etc.. , does not regard Islam , that regards just and only the part vicious of the man’s nature in all the world.
    because i don’t belive that a friar can rape a boy, etc..

  12. Glad you brought up prostitution, as it has been legitmized in Ilsamic Law:

    Mut’ah (Temporary Marriage)

    2430. Contracting a temporary marriage with a woman is in order, even if it may not be for the sake of any sexual pleasure.

    2431. The obligatory precaution is that a husband should not avoid having sexual intercourse for more than four months with a wife of temporary marriage.

  13. I too believe priests who rape boys should be severely punished. I also believe a Muslim woman’s evidence should be EQUAL to that of a man and that in the event of a divorce she should have full alimony, property and custody rights. I do not believe a Muslim woman should have to wear a hijab or Burqa if she does not want to or ask her husband’s permission to leave the house or get the permission of her father or male guardian in order to marry. She should be allowed to marry whoever she wants regardless of race or religion. I further believe divorce for a Muslim woman should be just as easy as it is for a man. Finally I believe all Muslim woman should have the right to be NOT beaten by their husbands. 4:34 shoul be removed from the Qur’an. Stuart Parsons

  14. Muslims bring up the issue of priest paedophilia all the time which I find quite amusing. They clearly cannot tell the difference between the exception to the rule which we call a crime, and the institutionalization of paedophilia which Islam did. When a clergy member or for that matter any member of western civilization rapes a child it is a crime. When a Muslim does it, its called ‘marriage’.

  15. Reply to Kaffir_Kanuck. Stuart Parsons certainly believes no one should be killed for something so trifling as leaving a religion…… for dropping litter perhaps, but for coming to ones senses and leaving a religion… NEVER.

  16. The latest press release of the Muslim council of Britain accuses the U.K government of double standards AND the supression of free speech because it has refused entry to Dr Zakir Naik. Hasn’t the MCB heard of the efforts of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference to secure a worldwide ban of speech which in any way criticizes Islam. AND, AND, AND… no laughing now… the MCB claims the true message of Islam is to ‘promote understanding between communities’ It must be assumed the members of the MCB have not read the Qur’an.