Lowe's yanks ads from 'All American Muslim'; local community outraged

[Bozita]

Last Updated: December 11. 2011 1:17PM
Lowe's yanks ads from 'All American Muslim'; local community outraged
Oralandar Brand-Williams/ The Detroit News

Detroit—Controversy is brewing over national home improvement retailer Lowe's decision to pull its advertisement from the national cable show "All American Muslim," a show which follows the lives of five Muslim families in Dearborn. Local Muslims are calling the move "a slap in the face of our rich American diversity."

A Lowe's spokesman said on the company's Twitter account that "We did not pull our ads based solely on the complaints or emails of any one group.It is never our intent to alienate anyone."

The company also did not say whether an email campaign launched by the Florida Family Association play a role in their decision.

On its website, the association said "All-American Muslim is propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values."

more...
http://www.detnews.com/article/20111211/METRO/112110326/Lowe’s-yanks-ads-from-‘All-American-Muslim’--local-community-outraged

[kestrel91316]

1. The local Muslim community needs a mass protest at their local Lowe's

to send a message to corporate.

[oldhippydude]

2. and the rest of us

need to find another home improvement store..

[fascisthunter]

8. your post is a sick example of absolute bogtry

and insane

[Humanist_Activist]

15. That's relatively easy...

There are over a billion Muslims worldwide, and what, a thousand or so that committed suicide bombings? Not to mention that most of those bombers came from countries that were/are in conflict and/or had/have brutal authoritarian regimes in them. Such conditions breed extremism and extreme tactics.

Christianity isn't immune from this, indeed the biggest differences is the fact that most Christians in the world live in true democracies, which tones down the extremism quite a bit, and in addition, those that are extremists display different tactics, even if motivations like with terrorist Muslims are similar. An extremist Christian is more likely to shoot up a place, or murder/assault people on the street due to some perceived difference, or religious/nationalist motivated hatred.

And perhaps less surprisingly, terrorist Muslims display a lot more competence than terrorist Christians, who, most of the time, are caught before they do a lot of damage.

[sufrommich]

19. I live very near this demographic

of Arab Americans in Dearborn Michigan, there has never been a car bomb explosion or any other acts of terrorism for that matter.

[fascisthunter]

35. yes, you are a bigot

and you yourself proved it.

[Joe Bacon]

9. Really?

You're forgetting about the extremists of another religion bombing abortion clinics, aren't you?

[DissedByBush]

10. You mean the one or two?

Those couple who were denounced by almost all of their brethren, except the wacky few like them, not celebrated as heroes by millions?

And they weren't suicide anyway, as I specified.

For the record, I'm not Christian, so I can't be defending my own religion here.

[Maraya1969]

20. I seem to remember them having a few websites

listing the dead and "not yet dead" abortion providers and having to be taken to court or at least some legal action taken to get them to cease and desist this type of incitement to violence. The dead doctor's, nurses or workers had strikes through their names.

And you think this is behavior that is being "denounced by almost all of their brethren"?

[jonthebru]

25. Key phrase:

"except the wacky few like them". I know a few Christians and some of them are really good people. Some aren't. Unfortunately the wacky nutter dominionists are working to make this country a Theocracy.

If the average person does not wake up we will slip into a feudal society and the USA as we know it will be gone. They are a major problem maybe more than the militant Islamists. The anti-science attitude is very, very harmful.

The people featured on this reality show are just regular folks with the same religious freedoms that we all have. They are not the ones trying to control your and my life.

[FarLeftFist]

37. Please tell us when their brethren "denounced" them? I'm calling BS on you and your post.

Tell it to these people: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_terrorism

Does this look like a "couple" to you?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-abortion_violence

WHERE'S THE DENOUNCEMENT?!

[fascisthunter]

41. notice no reply?

[Bozita]

42. I think it's called, "Checkmate"

[louis-t]

3. Well, I can certainly boycott Lowe's.

There's one right across the street from me. I've been avoiding Home Depot because of the right-wing asshole founder of that company. These idiots claim to know what the 'Islamic Agenda' is? That's like saying the people fleeing religious oppression in Europe came to America in the 1600s to set up something that looked exactly like what they were fleeing.

[Samba]

22. Lowes is 1 of 65? Why do they get singled out?

Theres like 10 articles in the press today - all of them single out Lowes.
Supposedly the Florida Family group got like 65 of their 67 targets to withdraw ads

Who are the 2 they didn't get?

" The FFA contends that 65 of 67 companies it has targeted have pulled their ads, including Bank of America, the Campbell Soup Co., Dell, Estee Lauder, General Motors, Goodyear, Green Mountain Coffee, McDonalds, Sears, and Wal-Mart."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/companies-pull-ads-from-muslim-reality-tv-show/2011/12/09/gIQANywmiO_story.html

So theres another 49 companies beyond these 11 - and then the 2 un-named ones that didn't cave.

They really expect a reality tv show to accurately depict anything? Even if it were 'reality' nobody would expect 5 lebanese families all from one michigan city to actually represent all american muslims.

Anyway i'll keep on shopping at Lowes since it seems someones being unfair to focus mostly on them for this. Also I like their website much better than the alternative and they are good about returns.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

4. How is the show doing in the ratings?

There is your answer.

[lynne]

29. I turned it on last night -

- but soon changed channels. Wouldn't have mattered what group of people it was about, the show was slow-paced and didn't hold my attention. I moved on to a Friends re-run.

I could understand if Lowe's removed advertising due to the ratings but that doesn't seem to be the case based on the article.

[Blue Gardener]

5. I can't boycott Home Depot and Lowe's

Home Depot is still much worse.

[otohara]

30. Ace?

I said the same thing yesterday --- guess we'll be shopping at Ace Hardware. Home Depot is worse - I'm hoping Lowe's changes their position - I sent an email.

[BOHICA12]

12. If it's vocal enough .... protests of advertisement work.

Can anyone say "Glenn Beck on Fox!" As a Ranger instructor once said, "It is a technique."

[OneAngryDemocrat]

13. Do not remain silent...

If you'd like to contact the Florida Family Association and tell them what you think of them, you can do so @ http://floridafamily.org/contact.php

I did.

Here's what I wrote:

"You are a hateful group - and God reserves a special place in Hell for the likes of you."

[otohara]

31. Thanks

sent one to Lowe's and these douchebags.

[Newsjock]

14. Calif. senator threatens boycott over Lowe's ads

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19525491

LOS ANGELES -- A state senator from Southern California was considering calling for a boycott of Lowe's stores after the home improvement chain pulled its advertising from a reality show about Muslim-Americans.

Calling the retail giant's decision "un-American" and "naked religious bigotry," Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, said Sunday he would also consider legislative action if Lowe's doesn't apologize to Muslims and reinstate its ads. The senator sent a letter outlining his complaints to Lowe's Chief Executive Officer Robert A. Niblock.

... Lowe's issued a statement Sunday apologizing for having "managed to make some people very unhappy." The North Carolina-based company did not say whether it would reinstate advertising on the show.

The apology doesn't go far enough, Lieu said. The senator vowed to look into whether Lowe's violated any California laws and said he would also consider drafting a senate resolution condemning the company's actions.

[get the red out]

16. That makes me really mad

I like that show! I think it is very good for reality TV. The people profiled are really nice folks and there is no way to watch it without wondering why anyone would make a big deal out of their religion. They are so obviously just good people.

I guess that might be what some people don't like, showing other human beings as being just that, OTHER HUMAN BEINGS.

[BenYehuda]

17. Defintely be good to Boycott Lowes....

.......idea.....DU...with its new system should create a IT web platform that allows organizers to quickly arrange and promote boycotts, flash protests, flash email protests, etc, etc.

[alp227]

18. As an atheist I generally am not interested in this show,

but ANY organization that kisses fundies' feet is foolish. I find it sad how it takes a REALITY SHOW to convince people that Muslims can be American, too. I feel that at least this show does something GOOD for humanity unlike "Jersey Shore" or "Jerry Springer".

[SleeplessinSoCal]

23. I've got bathroom faucets ordered and waiting. I paid for them 2 days ago. Not sure what to do.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

24. I know what to do. Found a petition...

http://www.signon.org/sign/defend-our-american-values?source=s.tw&r_by=1779938

[Berlin Expat]

28. Thanks for the link.

Signed, sealed, and delivered.

We have to let RWNJ's know that their intimidation tactics won't work, and that demonizing an entire group because of their faith is just plain un-American.

[gauguin57]

26. Cripes. It's Dunkin Donuts all over again.

Michelle Malkin, Rachel Ray and the "terrorist scarf" (the reason why I will never set foot in a Dunkin Donuts again as long as I live). When you cave in to right-wing wackos and fundies who are just making crap up out of whole cloth, you've lost your corporate soul and you don't deserve my money.

[Boston_Chemist]

27. As the Atheist that I am,

I can be quite sure that Christians and Muslims can both be blatantly bigoted towards the out-groups in their midst.

[pasto76]

32. send Lowes corporate an email; find it here:

http://www.lowes.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContactUsCategoryFAQPageView?storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&faqId=51

disappointingly, I had just started going there instead of HD since they give veterans discounts year round vs the one day for HD. I wont go there until they reverse this, or explain some other believeable reason

[Islandlife]

33. Does Lowes really have the right to pull their ads?

I think it may be possible.

[MADem]

34. Geez, you'd think this Family Association would get bent out of shape over things that

have potential to warp the brains of the impressionable youth...like, say, that Kartrashian program or some of the other idiotic "reality" shows.

It does seem like Lowe's is being singled out, if indeed other corporations also pulled their ads. Could they have been the biggest "buy" of the lot, and is that why they are getting all the attention?

[kudzu22]

36. I saw one or two episodes of AAM

It's a show that's flawed from the start. It purports to show that American Muslims are ordinary people like every other American. And that's the problem -- they ARE ordinary people and shows about ordinary people doing ordinary things are quite dull.

I don't know whether Lowe's was responding to the protests, but I could totally believe they cancelled their ads due to low ratings.

[Quartermass]

38. Lowes has every right to choose where it wants to advertise.

[RKP5637]

39. Florida Family Association, a bigoted organization to begin with ... n/t

[katty]

40. 'florida' 'family' assoc

that's all you need to know about why this happened