Marketing to Muslims poses a challenge for retailers

As Best Buy recently discovered, reaching out to Muslims can cause a backlash. Even those who champion the targeting of ads to the community steer corporations away from the mainstream media.

January 25, 2010|By Raja Abdulrahim

Leafing through a Best Buy flier over the holiday season, Celena Khatib spotted a small greeting near the bottom of the page: "Happy Eid al-Adha."

The good wishes for the important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims seemed a milestone in U.S. marketing. "I finally felt that they are recognizing Muslims like we are a part of this community," said Khatib, 31, a suburban Detroit mother of two. "We live here, we spend our money here."

But on Best Buy's website, people around the country posted contrasting views. "You insult all of the heros and innocent who died 911 by celebrating a holiday of the religion that said to destroy them!" wrote one. Many others said they would no longer shop at Best Buy.

The controversy underscores the continuing obstacles that retailers and other companies face in marketing to a U.S. Muslim population estimated at more than 2.3 million by the Pew Research Center.

Even an advertising-industry study three years ago that urged companies to cash in on what was then the community's estimated $170-billion purchasing power got little traction.

Best Buy is believed to be the first major retailer to market to Muslims nationwide, and only a few are even dipping their toes into direct ethnic local advertising.

Rather than pave the way for more national advertising, the Best Buy ad seems to have reinforced the pariah status that Muslims have in mainstream marketing and to serve as an example of why "Happy Eid" won't join "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Hanukkah" as a mainstay in holiday advertising any time soon.

"Obviously the Muslim market has some unique sets of challenges. . . . That's not something to be glossed over," said Rafi-uddin Shikoh, founder of DinarStandard, a consulting firm specializing in the Muslim market.

Other immigrant and minority groups have faced similar treatment from advertisers, but the U.S. Muslim community carries heavier baggage.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and with more recent incidents, such as the Ft. Hood shooting and attempted Christmas Day plane bombing, the word "Muslim" for some Americans is synonymous with terrorism. And that's an image that corporations don't want attached to their brand names.

A recent study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that 35% of Americans have a negative view of Muslims and 45% believe Islam is more likely than other religions to encourage violence.