On their website they state that:

The UNHATE Foundation, desired and founded by the Benetton Group, seeks to contribute to the creation of a new culture of tolerance, to combat hatred, building on Benetton’s underpinning values. It is another important step in the group’s social responsibility strategy: not a cosmetic exercise, but a contribution that will have a real impact on the international community, especially through the vehicle of communication, which can reach social players in different areas.

Here are screen grabs from the video, which grabbed my attention when I saw it for the first time blazoned across one of their video screen window displays, whilst walking past the Benetton Knightsbridge store, in London.

Now, for those of you that haven’t been to that part of town before, it’s a stomping ground for tourists and especially those from the Middle East. Harrods is down the road and they have previously expressed to me how important high-spending Muslim tourists are. So much so that they have adjusted opening hours to accommodate the culture of shopping much later in the day, which is central to many countries in the Muslim world.

So from the first image, I thought ‘Wow’ a hijabi in a marketing campaign. However, as the video continued I have to say I was shocked!  I am not allowed to show those pictures on this site, but you can see some similar ones from the Benetton UNHATE campaign site here.

Now Benetton have cut their cloth on creating memorable and at times controversial advertising copy, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on what effects, if any this will have on Muslims, Muslim consumers and their consumption? For example, will this creative offend a significant number of Muslims and how will they express their offence, if at all? Will such expressions translate into harming the brand and drops in sales in the short and/or long term? And, could it stretch as far as Muslim countries requesting the closure of Benetton stores?

Beyond this, was there an opportunity to deliver less contentious creative, which would be equally as memorable – but perhaps with more of a positive ‘Muslim’ effect? For example, there appears to be little mainstream creative from many brands, which shows Muslims as passionate, loving and deep members of an integrated society – beyond a token housewife buying tea and cheese.

With these in mind, here are some creatives from Malaysia, which take a different tack:

Also, are they appropriate for non-Muslim countries? In my opinion, I would say yes. With fragmented markets requiring the application of more intricate segmentation criteria, my feeling is that the brands that are willing to take calculated risks in moving away from neutral and idyllic actors stripped of their cultural identities, will triumph. A case in practice of this can be seen with HSBC:

Source: HSBC website, adverts

Image: http://punktorah.org

Recent debates in the Netherlands seem set to have a significant effect on Jewish and Muslim mean slaughtering practices.

Here’s a great piece that gives an overview of the landscape and varying perspectives: Should animals be stunned before slaughter?

The interesting thing will be whether Jewish and Muslim communities can use this issue as an opportunity to unite and laugh in the face of many media stories, which seek to divide and rule. Beyond this, its also worth mentioning that Christians, as the other brothers and sisters in Abrahamic faith, especially in Africa and the Middle East, often stand shoulder to shoulder in appreciating the spiritual nature and brotherhood in such perspectives on diet.

After all the Qur’an states in Surah Al-Ma’idah, verse 5 (Translated as ‘the Chapter of The Table Spread With Food):

“Made lawful to you this day are At-Tayyibat [all kinds of Halal (lawful) foods, which Allah has made lawful (meat of slaughtered eatable animals, etc., milk products, fats, vegetables and fruits, etc.). The food (slaughtered cattle, eatable animals, etc.) of the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) is lawful to you and yours is lawful to them.”

It’s not just Halal, but Kosher consumers are grabbing the headlines too, as being a buoyant market.

However, it appears the Muslim dietary laws often attract more negative press coverage, whilst it can be argued that interpretations of Jewish laws on kosher slaughter offer much less acceptance of stunning methods – which is where the battleground lies.

The issue in some ways appears to have been hijacked by the far-right in Europe, as a way of controlling increasingly assertive and influential religious groups and especially those who are non-Christian. As always, it brings the circular discussions about the role of religion and state – and how far these should be separated, if at all. In tandem, it appears that in the modern world some profile science as being rational and diametrically opposed to religion, rendering it as irrational. History stands testament to the fact that the reality is a bit more complicated. After all, how many leaders, business people and scientists who profess religious beliefs of any denomination have made indelible and significant positive contributions?

Having recently travelled to the UAE, where there exists a significant population of non-Muslim, European, Western, ex-pats (or however you wish to classify them) residents and tourists, these issues appear to be of little importance. The vast majority of meat supplied across the board is halal. Also, Australia and New Zealand, whilst discussing how meat should be consumed on home soil, seem eager enough to supply the Muslim region with high quality meat products, conforming at times to conflicting practices. So is this about meat, or money, or animal welfare, or religion, or politics, or xenophobia – or all of them?

So maybe these opposing groups understand key messages in the Qur’an better than Muslims? Hospitality is a key aspect of worship, brotherhood and cordial relations with neighbours. If producing halal and kosher foods is made difficult, surely it will affect the way in which Muslim and Jews live and can engage with the wider community.  So perhaps the global Muslim community spends too much time engaged in ‘halal wars’ with so many different regulatory organisations, scrutinizing over the minutia associated with technical molecular aspects, which often at times also means that national identity and sectarianism is fused with halal authenticity and desirability.

Therefore, could a counter action be that the Abrahamic faiths work together to produce a cross-religion code of conduct, set of regulations and even a brand, which can be used for produce, which is suitable for consumption by all of them? Divide and rule, or strength in numbers? Let’s see what happens…

Photo Credits: Bright Light Studios http://www.blstudios.net/

In its third annual American Muslim Consumer Conference, and despite the threat of the first snowfall of the season, the conference was packed. In my third year to attend I felt a great kinship with everyone at the conference, not because they were all Muslim – because they were not – nor because we were all there to discuss the same topic, but because we were all privy to the fact that the US Muslim Market is a large segment with a lot of untapped potential that everyone but a few were ignoring.

What was amazing was that true to this year’s focus on multiculturalism and diversity, the speakers, panelists and participating companies were as diverse as Muslim consumer needs.  There were companies from food industry to companies in hospitality, education, skincare, technology and fashion; from large corporations to small startups; from participants who were local from New Jersey, like myself; to others who came all the way from California, and even from as far as the Singapore, to attend.

I enjoyed the insights shared in the sessions. The panelists in a session entitled “Segmenting the Multicultural Market for Targeting Precision”, included Gwen Kelly, Senior Marketing Director at Walmart; Manny Palomo, Strategic Marketing & Communications Direct at Best Buy; Tariq Farid, Founder & CEO of Edible Arrangements; as well as representative from the Futures Company and Oglivy and Mather. The speakers shared insights on their approach to the Hispanic and African American markets and how we can apply the same methods to the Muslim Market.

In the afternoon panel, led by Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, author of the best seller Green Deen, humor and insights went hand in hand.   Panelists from industries as diverse as filmmaking and travel – represented by Fazal Bahardeen, Founder & CEO of Crescentrating.com (the world’s first travel portal, dedicated to Halal conscious travelers) – shared their experience with the Muslim consumer market.

At the conference, DinarStandard released a groundbreaking Muslim consumer needs report entitled American Muslim Market 2011: Business Landscape & Consumer Needs Study. The study reports the findings of a first of its kind nationwide American Muslim Consumer Advocacy Survey and regional interviews with community leaders and influencers. It also estimates the market size by industry and includes market size by demographics including state, education, age, etc. Senior Marketing Manager at Wal-Mart, Gwen Kelly, said the study included the facts and figures that proved the importance of this segment and should be in front of all Fortune 500 companies.

I look forward to another strong conference in 2012 and to once again seeing familiar faces in addition to seeing even more mainstream companies who are finally starting to “get it” and realize the power of the Muslim consumer market as a segment that shouldn’t be ignored.

Azim Premji and Alisher Usmanov are among business leaders featured in the most influential people’s list and they are also listed among the world’s richest people ranking by Forbes. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and India each have two Muslim influential persons listed in the ranking, while Iran, Turkey and Russia have a single person each. A list of the top ten people is shown in the table below:

US president Barack Obama regained his position at the top, followed by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, taking the second position, while Chinese President Hu Jintao has slipped from the No. 1 spot on the magazine’s annual rankings to the third place. Sonia Gandhi (11^th), Manmohan Singh (19^th), Mukesh Ambani (35^th) and Lakshmi Mittal (47^th) are other Indians who are ranked as most influential persons, besides the two Indian Muslims, Dawood and Azim Prem Ji.

Shafeeq Rahman is a professional researcher on India-centric socio-economic and political databases and can be reached at rahman.shafeeq@gmail.com.

This dual SIM mobile handset with necessary feature of conventional mobile is integrated with special software for Muslims like Azan Alarms, Prayer Timings, Wallpapers, Ring Tones, Hijri and Gregorian Calendars, and Zakat calculator. It also provides the Qibla direction by five different methods and has the special software to give automatic direction to Makkah.  Switch on and switch off followed the sound of Islamic music BismiAllah and ShukranAllah respectively. It supports English, Arabic, Hindi, Urdu, Persian, Turkish, Bengali, Burmese, Indonesian, Vietnamese and Thai language.

I-Tel also introduced 2GB Preloaded Micro SD Cards for running Muslim friendly application on Mobile like Full Quran for Mobile, 99 Names Of Allah, Halal Meat Guide, Zakat Software, Pre Loaded Ramadan Songs, Islamic Wallpapers & Islamic Screen Savers.

I- Tel group is also committed to give 2.5% Zakat on every sale of the handset to needy and poor Muslim Children NGO for education purposes. According to statement by company, reason behind the name of Islamic mobile model I-Tel i786 is very special as 786 number is highly auspicious for Muslim in Indian subcontinent as it means “we start in the name of Allah“

India is an emerging destination for Halal and Muslim friendly products and has the largest market size of consumers after Indonesia and Pakistan. Most of Indian Muslim population group is young and looking to fashionable products in accord to their religion. Such products with the provision of Muslim ethics would definitely be chunked the loyal Muslim consumer. Further, India is major trade partner of almost all OIC countries and Muslim friendly products would increase the volume of overseas exports. I-Tel i786 is a valuable start but the lot of lucrative sector and industries are highly untapped for Muslim friendly products in India.

Smartphones make religion mobile: BBC Video

A key question is how could this look from an Islamic perspective?

The legacy of Islamic scholarship

In 1377 classical North African Islamic Scholar, Ibn Khaldun, wrote The Muqaddimah [Translated as: Introduction to Universal History]. This text by many is regarded as being significant in influencing thought, within both Eastern and Western social sciences. Ibn Khaldun argues that people fall into two general categories: city dwellers, who enjoy an urban sedentary lifestyle; and those who live in harsh nomadic conditions. When looking specifically at Muslims, with Arabic being the language of Islam, Ibn Khaldun also groups Muslims into two broad camps: which differentiates individuals according to (1) linguistic and (2) cultural Arabization. Ibn Khaldun asserts that intellect, scholarship, science and refined culture (such as the arts), evolved through urban linguistic Arabs.

Transformational Leadership in the here and now

From these I argue that the heart, limbs and soul of Islam were carried forward by urbanites, who sought to maintain a strong connection with nature. The concept of a nomadic existence was admired as a demonstration of an individual’s ability to tolerate austerity and detach themselves from worldly vices. I suggest that this admiration has lead to a romanticised view, steeped in emotive storytelling. However, wherever Islam spread, practically centres of development and conurbations were always hallmarks of Muslim successes. Therefore, the interpretation of Islamic texts and practices by early Muslims is largely undertaken by urbanites and demonstrates the ability of Islam to work alongside progression and change. I would go further in asserting that the most significant innovations will arise from transformative leadership, which embraces and galvanises a broad-base of cultures.

The following model captures how I think this all looks:

So what of the future? Be prepared to witness the reigns being taken by a generation of informed, self-mediating, empowered and technologically savvy urbanites. For them, heritage is progressive: embracing the eradication of hierarchy and knowledge simply translating to power. Instead: diverse networks; the sharing and adaptation of information; and ultimately the positioning of Islam as a ‘co-brand’ with other spheres of life offer more of a pull. So perhaps it could be argued that we are coming full-circle to the early golden days – where Islam gifted social mobility and empowerment through structured innovation. Moving forward, Muslims seem set to move towards greater collaborative consumption and new ways of interpreting what faith means – and how it shapes life in the here and now.

Government of India does provide subsidy in airfare and offers other services at cheaper rates compared to private tour operators.   A small share of pilgrims also offer Hajj through private tour operators to whom the Government allocates a select number of seats.  Since the living standard in India is improving greatly, given higher economic and per capita income growth, the number of affluent Muslims has also increased causing an increase those pursuing Hajj.

For the Hajj 2011, Indian government had been initially allotted 104,000 seats by the Ministry of Hajj, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but overwhelming response with 302,616 numbers of applications for Hajj forced the government to request the revision of quota from Hajj Ministry (KSA) and finally it is approved 108,240 seats for Indians.

As on 12.08.2011, numbers of excess applications are 194,376.  All these figures and Indian Muslim trend lead to a potential market of Umrah which is not bound to any quota.  Rejected person of Hajj in Qurrah system may be encouraged to register for Umrah.

I took Islamic Relief as a model because they are one of the most popular as well as most active Muslim aid agencies worldwide.  Their campaign includes Live TV appeals; fundraising events worldwide; online fundraisers in the form of webinars; social media, including Facebook, Twitter, blogging, videos; print ads; direct mail and email campaigns; PR; paid search ads; flyers; calendars and other print pieces; as well as outdoor advertising.

As with most aid agencies, there is an emotional appeal, usually featuring a specific humanitarian case, rather than numbers and statics, as in this video entitled “The Reality of Famine”;  a strong call to action that is easy to implement; and a description of the value of an individual’s contribution – “$75 can feed a family for a month”.

Now that the East Africa crisis coincides with Ramadan, Islamic Relief is tying its campaign with Ramadan values of giving generously to the needy, as Muslims are more likely to give to charitable causes knowing they will receive increased rewards, and especially that in fasting, we get a taste of others pain, and also points out that contributions are zakat eligible.  All this is done through an integrated campaign using a variety of media channels.

With such noble goals, of providing much needed assistance to people in dire conditions, relief agencies need to carefully plan and implement their marketing campaigns to achieve maximum impact. What are some examples of other Relief Agencies that are do it right, and others that do not?

Source: Flickr Creative Common by StuartBannocks

The more information that emerges, the more it appears that establishing causalities remains problematic. My position on the riots is that whilst the outcomes are apparent, the root causes are non-reducible. In short, this is all very complicated. Instead, it’s perhaps easier to understand the causes as coming from a large series of factors, under ‘drop-down menus’ – which when put together then lead to the same endgame. However, these choices are dynamic, time specific and perishable. Unfortunately, I think it’s also safe to say that as it has happened now, it can happen again.

These events also reminded me of the novel, manga and one of my favourite movies, Battle Royale. The prologue to the Japanese movie, released in 2000, reads as follows:

“At the dawn of the millennium, the nation collapsed. At fifteen percent unemployment, ten million were out of work. 800,000 students boycotted school. The adults lost confidence and, fearing the youth, eventually passed the Millennium Educational Reform Act, AKA the BR Act…”

Battle Royale (Movie, 2000)

The most obvious conclusion from recent events, is that with this phenomenon and others like the Arab Spring, hyper-communication and social media has two effects. Firstly, the great levelling of the digital revolution gifts access to knowledge capital. This information is consumed by more and more ‘collective individuals’ and is available in a format where ranking is less about quality and more about conspicuousness. Qualifiers are often based upon notoriety and number of hits. Therefore: ‘whose view is right?’ and ‘is there something to be said for being able to consume information in a real, rather than a virtual context?’ are being processed in more self-regulated ways. Secondly, social media shows that its stakeholders react quickly and spread information amongst their networks. As I watched the news stories unfold on my television, I reached for my phone to check on Twitter, in order to see how close to my area the riots were and where they would spread next. Twitter gave me a faster response that rolling news teams.

As a side issue, I can’t help thinking that concerns over hoodies and face-covering may indirectly lead to courses of action which have a knock-on effect on Muslim women, who wear the hijab or niqab. I didn’t see any hijabis or niqabis looting in various pieces of news footage, but as with debates concerning terrorism, there always appears to be calls to tighten definitions of freedom – using a blend of soft and hard power. For rioting and terrorism, tenuous links to dress codes have already been made. Will England lose faith and go down the same route that France has, in passing laws to ban additional items of clothing in public places?

Will England lose faith and go down the same route that France has, in passing laws to ban additional items of clothing in public places?

Will marketers driving consumerism have to shoulder some accountability?

Will role of religion in society be seen as positive?

At some stage I am sure that some will point the finger at marketers driving consumerism and therefore having to shoulder some accountability. The usual suspects violent video games and rap music have already been brought into question. However, for a change religion is in the spotlight for a different reason. The media has run numerous pieces showing religious groups rallying to heal wounds. Many former gang members featured have also reported that, religion and the support of religious institutions have been instrumental in their rehabilitation.

Therefore, is this a good time to re-open the debate about the role of religion in society, in a positive way? Can religion provide the necessary moral compass, which helps individuals to:  become self disciplined, forgive, trust that justice will prevail, and believe in recompense beyond temporal human existence? A few days ago during the Birmingham riots, Tariq Jahan saw his son Haroon die in his arms, after he was mown down by a car – whilst Harroon attempted to protect businesses and the local mosque. Tariq asserted that he was a Muslim, he called for a calm amidst racial tensions, and that his faith teaches him to accept that everyone’s time to go is fixed by God. My condolences and utmost respect go out to the family.

That was one of the comments I made, as a panellist at the University of Northampton’s recent conference on the London Olympics 2012.

Now, this topic of Ramadan and 2012 Olympics has already been discussed (here, and here.)

I live in East London and on my way to work every day I see the Olympic stadium being built. For those of you that don’t know this part of London too well, here are two quick generalisations: it’s urban, and culturally diverse. Even before London won the Olympic bid and local taxi firms, kebab shops and barbers were trying to cash in on the Olympics, through changing their names and shop fronts – it was like we already lived the Olympics anyway.

In East London, many shops proudly show off their heritage and display flags. Walking down my local roads today, I saw heritage branded shops from: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Ghana, India, Jamaica, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Somalia, Spain, Thailand, Turkey… oh yeah and England (^_~) represented. From a Nation Branding perspective, having the Olympics in London raises some interesting questions. I think the idea that our small countries have managed to trick the world into allowing us to compete as a Great British team, works on foreign soil. However now it’s on our doorstep, how can we make sure that those in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland (and even the North of England) feel that it’s theirs too – rather than just a London games. Also, some sports like football are finding added challenges when creating a British team.

If I was to be honest, most people seem to be more excited about the opening of a new Westfield shopping mall in East London.  But can you blame us, the Olympics has been a strange affair so far. For example, we were promised an International train station, offering an addition Eurostar destination (connecting us to France and Brussels). Yes, they are spending hundreds of millions to build it, but now no Eurostar due to cuts! Also it appears unlikely that any other replacement international train operators will be able to make a bid until after the games.

This month a local council in East London shut some of the borough’s sports facilities, again due to cuts. This all seems a bit strange, what with the countdown to the Olympics plastered over the media. With this closure, it meant that the martial arts club where I train, after over 30 years of being at the same facilities, was given about 30 days notice of the closure. I am pleased to say though that we found a local church willing to take us in.

So what’s my point?

If it’s not in connection with the Olympics, then Muslims anyway love to debate ideas of national identity – and it’s full of paradoxes.  Also we have all witnessed the consequences of being overly ambitious in building projects; and seen brands created, which are maybe nothing more than a shell of promises. This clip of a mega-Islamic Center that was planned in London illustrates how easy it is to create a dream and then generate endless column inches of concern.  If you do an Internet search now, then you’ll find very little more recent information on this project at all.

So especially in Ramadan, Muslims like to reflect on who they are, what they can achieve and what legacy they will leave behind.

The Olympics could be such a great opportunity for the British Muslim community to connect with the rest of the world and what better month than Ramadan.

East London is full of mosques and ethnocentric stores, which could become beacons for spectators and athletes to hook up. Perhaps the best way to do this would be through social media – because if we look at the strangle hold of sponsors like Visa,  it really is going to be tough for entrepreneurs to get a foothold in the games. So those of you thinking of knocking up a halal hotdog stand: you might not be able to get close to the action, and your Muslim consumers may not be eating much for about 17 daylight hours!  With Muslim consumer led activities, this would also perhaps have the effect of alleviating the usual concerns, which they pin on Muslims – as played out in the YouTube clip above.

It would be safe to say that closer to next Ramadan and the Olympics, if consumers don’t do it, then sooner or later the big corporates will speak on their behalf. Reem commented in her last post on the commercialisation of Ramadan.  This year, I recall seeing a Ramadan food section in my local Tesco superstore a whole month in advance. It was also quite fascinating to see what supermarkets consider to be essential items for Ramadan. Sure, there were sacks of rice and pyramids of samosas. But maybe they could also have some Qur’ans, as supermarkets already sell other books. I think Reem’s made some good points – and it would appear that from a consumption perspective, Muslim events in a lot of ways are about replicating Christian events. Has anyone bought a Ramadan advent calendar yet?

But hey, more retailers are starting to love Muslims. On Friday 29^th July, Sebastian Shakespeare commented in the London Evening Standard Newspaper: “How I love the law of unintended consequences. This week it was reported that the French burka ban is helping Britain cash in on overseas shoppers. Liberty and Selfridges have seen the number of international visitors increase by 45 per cent and 40 per cent respectively as Middle Eastern tourists find London more welcoming that Paris.

It’s also great to see victory for the headscarf, with the American Weightlifting Association making allowances for Kulsoom Abdullah, by relaxing their policies on showing head, neck, arms and legs.

However, Iran’s female soccer team had to forfeit an Olympic qualifier match in Jordan, due to players wanting to wear the hijab.  International governing body FIFA say hijabs present a health and safety risk – which is why they also stamped out the fashion of snoods in the English Premier League.