Brands and Ad Agencies have lately taken note of the $170 Billion purchasing power of Muslims in North America.
Halal Chicken McNuggets for customers.
Ikea hijabs for employees.
Ramadan Sales for all?
And as Madison Avenue develops campaigns for this newly acknowledged demographic, I’m curious to see if there will be nuance in the advertising. Or will it just be the Islamic equivalent of simplistic sombreros and soul claps – with every third word being “Allah”. Dunno. Still waiting to see a hijab in a national TV spot….one smart brand might start with this soccer player:
Thinking about this ‘new’ consumer base brought up hazy memories of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. The brilliance of this film is that it was the first time a Hollywood pic featured an Indian-American and a Korean-American as “Red Blooded American Malesâ€Â. Like millions of other American men in the 18-34 demographic, Harold & Kumar’s prime objective was the holy trinity of Bong Hits, Bare Breasts + Burgers. Ever present were their races and cultures, but instead of being mined as tropes for pathos or the exotic, they were well employed as one of many narrative and comic elements.
So what of this? Well many folks we know loved H&K as the FIRST bawdy blockbuster that spoke to their same-but-different status. What brand can do this? What agency can do this? I posit that there are still many millions of American consumers who have not yet seen a campaign that actually engages them with this intelligent duality. Does it matter? Even though we’re still stuck with many dated, even pernicious, cliches, our industry is not built to serve the common good, it’s about the bottom line.
So let’s frame it like this: Whichever brands can deftly tap into these markets, going beyond the easy sell, will see quite the windfall. And with the ever increasing number of platforms to reach the consumer, which can disseminate risk, I’ll wager we’ll see it soon.
—
UPDATES & RELATED LINKS:
10/7/07: Nigeria, Nokia & Ramadan
12/9/08: private/public lives and representational politics on TV
4/4/08: Holland is probably the Western country that has the highest % Muslim population. Read more about business and advertising at Islam in Europe.
4/18/08: Islam, Cosplay & comic books.
4/27/08: John Cho, Harold of White Castle, talks about choosing his roles
4/29/08: Oliver Wang talks about the social value of H&K 2 being mundane.
5/5/08 As The World Turns & Islam
September 2008 conference in Berlin about Islamic Consumer Culture. MHB was invited to submit an abstract for it…will keep ya posted.
