Some necklaces, bracelets and mobile phone covers have logos that are un-Islamic and even have roots in Kabbalah. People buy these items without knowing what they mean.

Some people say they have seen T-shirts with offensive words on them.

Najwa Khaled, a 22-year-old Saudi woman at a clothing shop in a Jeddah mall, said she always makes sure that prints on T-shirts are appropriate prior to buying them. She said she also has a tendency to research logos on T-shirts or accessories before buying them to know what they mean.

“I became obsessed about what I buy after I found one of my friends with a necklace that had a playboy bunny on it. My friend did not know what it meant. She thought it was just a rabbit and that it looked nice,” said Khaled. “I’ve even seen the same logo on a T-shirt that one of my friends was wearing. She bought it from a clothing store at a mall in Jeddah.”

Ibrahim Mansour, a 25-year-old Saudi who was at the Corniche Commercial Center in downtown Jeddah, thinks people should be more careful before buying T-shirts that carry logos and words they do not know the meaning of. “Some people are blindly following fashion and copying what comes on TV. Those who sell these items are worse; they don’t know what they’re selling. When asked, they say that the owner imported the item from China or from other places,” he said.

“I once entered a store in downtown Jeddah and found a Yemeni seller wearing a T-shirt with an offensive word on it. When I asked him if he knew what the word meant, he said he didn’t and that he bought it for SR30,” said Mansour.

He added that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry should be more careful and carry out field inspections to confiscate such items before people buy them. He added that store owners should be more careful and not sell things that carry logos they do not understand.

Ahlam Al-Harbi, a mother of two teenage girls, closely looks at logos on clothes and accessories because she is adamant her daughters do not wear anything that is perceived as immoral.

“Although I closely monitor what my daughters wear, they still end up buying things with logos on them that they don’t understand. My 16-year-old daughter bought a bracelet with a Kabbalah logo on it. She told me she received it as a gift from her friend who brought it from abroad. She liked it because Lady Gaga wears something similar,” she said.

Al-Harbi has the same problem with her 15-year-old daughter who was wearing a T-shirt with a strange logo. She bought the top from a clothing store in Jeddah. “Her teacher has asked her not to wear it again but she insists on keeping it. I’ve prevented her from wearing it because it’s unacceptable,” she said.

“Families should closely watch their kids because they can be easily influenced,” she added.