Over the weekend it was revealed that 65 companies pulled their commercials from the TLC show “All American Muslim.” 

The Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) issued a statement asking for a boycott of one of the companies, Lowe’s, unless they reinstate their commercials. Read the full statement here: Take Action Against Bigotry and Hate. Companies like Lowe’s are bowing to extreme right-wing bigots who do not want Muslims to be shown as real people, rather than stereotypical “terrorists”.

I have created a petition on Change.org specifically directed at Lowe’s CEO Robert Niblock, asking him to reinstate their commercials. This would send a clear message that Lowe’s, and the other 64 companies, were wrong to bow to extreme right-wing bigotry.

Please sign the petition, and pass it along: http://www.change.org/petitions/lowes-reinstate-commercials-on-all-american-muslim

Thinkprogress.org (the article linked at the top) has a good summary of the background:

The TLC reality TV show All-American Muslim chronicles the lives of a group of Muslims in Dearborn, Michigan. The show has been well-received for its fair and realistic portrayal of the Muslim American experience in the United States. Watch a trailer for the show here.

But a reality TV show that lets Americans relate to the lives of Muslims in the United States is an offensive idea to those who want to demonize Islam. The Florida Family Association (FFA) launched a campaign earlier this year to get companies to pull their advertising from the program. FFA claims that 65 of the 67 companies targeted have done this, including home improvement giant Lowe’s and megabank Bank of America:The Florida Family Association, a Tampa Bay group, has led a campaign urging companies to pull ads on ‘All-American Muslim.’ 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.

In addition to the companies listed above, I was able to find a list of all the other ones as well. The hate-filled website “Bare Naked Islam” (deliberately left out a link for them) is taking partial credit for the ad-pull. They list the following companies having pulled their ads  (note that Lowe’s competitor Home Depot did NOT pull their ads):

**SEE BELOW FOR UPDATES**

3M (Command, Scotchbrand tape), Airborne Vitamin, Amway, Anheuser Busch Inbev (Select55), Art Instruction Schools, Bamboozles,  Bank of America (Cash Rewards), Bare Escentuals, Brother International (Ptouch), Campbell’s Soup, Capital One, Church & Dwight (Oxi Clean, Arm & Hammer), City Furniture, Conagra (Hunt’s Diced Tomatoes), Corinthian Colleges (Everst411), Cotton, Inc., Cumberland Packing (Sweet’N Low), Dell computers,  Diamond Foods (Kettlebrand Chips),  Estee Lauder (Clinique),  ET Browe (Palmer’s Cocoa butter),  Gap,  General Motors (Chevy Runs Deep), Good Year,  Green Mountain Coffee, Guthy Renker (Proactiv), Hershey kisses, Home Depot,  Honda North America,  HTC Phones, Ikea, JC Penney, JP Morgan Chase (Chase Sapphire), Kayak.com, Kellogg (Special K), Koa Brands (John Frieda),  Leapfrog Enterprise (Leapster Explorer),  Lowe’s Mars (Dove Chocolate), McDonald’s, Nationwide Insurance, News Corp (We bought a zoo movie), Nintendo (Mariokartz.com),  Novartis (Theraflu), Old Navy, Pernod Ricard (Kahlua), Petsmart, Pier One,  Pfizer (Centrum vitamin),  Procter & Gamble (Align Probiotic, Crest, Febreze, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, Pur, Tide),  Progressive Insurance, Prudential Financial,  Radio Shack, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse,  SC Johnson (Drano, Glade, Scrubbing Bubbles),  Sears , Signet (Kay Jewelers), Sonic Drive-ins, Subaru, THQ (uDraw), T-Mobil,  Toyota (Camry), Volkswagen,  Vtech (Mobi Go, V Reader), Wal-Mart, Whirlpool (Maytag).

****

UPDATE: WaitISeeSomething.com reader, Sue, contacted Progressive Insurance, and they stated that they “did NOT pull their ads,” as they “purchased a rotational ad, not a block ad.” Also, Amway says that reports of them pulling their ads are incorrect as well.

According to a new article at ThinkProgress.org, several of the companies in the above list haven’t actually pulled their ads from All American Muslim. (Shows how unreliable hate-websites like “Bare Naked Islam” are…). Campbell Soup Company, Sears, and Bank of America have all condemned FFA’s boycott of All American Muslim. In addition, Gap, Green mountain Coffee, Home Depot, Art Instruction Schools, and Cumberland Packing have all said that it is a misrepresentation to say they pulled their ads. Lowe’s has confirmed they pulled there ads, but for the others, the best thing to do is get in touch with them directly.

****

Assuming that the above list is at least somewhat accurate, perhaps it is unfair to single out Lowe’s. But if we can convince Lowe’s, then maybe the others will follow suit. Also, Lowe’s has also been especially cavalier in their responses, saying via Twitter: “Lowe’s values diversity of thought in everyone, including our employees and prospective customers.” But by caving to to bigots, Lowe’s is showing they only care about some of their employees and prospective customers, and they don’t care about others.

For too long, hate-groups like the Florida Family Association have been allowed to go unchecked. Please stand with me and sign my petition to Lowes: http://www.change.org/petitions/lowes-reinstate-commercials-on-all-american-muslim

** UPDATE **

In addition to my petition (which I hope you’ve signed!!), there is another one on Change.org that has over 8000 signatures that you can sign as well, and another on SignOn.org with over 35,000 signatures that’s also open!

This issue has been getting a lot of coverage in the media, including Lowe’s CEO Robert Niblock being Keith Olberman’s “Worst Person in the World” for December 13, 2011, and a segment on The Daily Show entitled “kabulvision”

Also, please check out this viral video by www.ArabAmericanNY.org: