COLUMBUS, Ohio, 6 October 2006 — Strong reactions from members of the public, radio stations and the Columbus chapter of CAIR (Council of American-Islamic Relations) has led car dealers Dennis Mitsubishi to apologize and cancel an advertisement and sales campaign titled “Launching a Jihad on the Automotive Market.”
The dealership had earlier announced an aggressive “tongue-in-cheek” campaign to boost its sales. Among some of the gimmicks planned was a proposal to have salesmen wearing burqas, Friday would be called “Fatwa Friday” and kids would receive free rubber swords. Radio commercials would blare, “One of the vehicles on sale can comfortably seat up to 12 jihadists in the back,” and, “Our prices are lower than the evildoers everyday. Just ask the pope.”
The majority of radio stations in Columbus refused to air the advertisement considering it to be insensitive. Asma Mobinuddin, the president of the Columbus chapter of CAIR said she was concerned the tone of the advert was “mocking and disrespectful to many different areas. One is Islamic faith and Islamic culture.” She also said that advertisements like that did nothing but promote discord in a very difficult time.
Undaunted, Aaron Masterson, general manager at the dealership, which writes its own commercials, said that the commercials would air and that they would buy airtime from willing radio stations. He said the campaign was supposed to be aggressive and funny and should be taken in that vein. However, many Internet-based outlets picked up the story and people started calling in to the Columbus dealership expressing anger and dismay.
The advertisement, which included references to terrorists, the Iraq war and Jihad, was thought to be one of the most controversial in the last 15 years. Bowing to public pressure, Dennis Mitsubishi ultimately apologized and shelved the campaign. Keith Dennis, the owner of the dealership said in a statement, “Never have I seen a commercial that never aired generate such a huge response. I wish to offer my sincere apology to anyone who was offended.”
Under the leadership of CAIR and similar pressure groups, Muslims are taking a stand and little victories like this gives hope to the Muslim communities in the US that if they take up a campaign coolly and intellectually, they can make a difference.
