“Bringing Islam to the masses” is the goal of
the new TV campaign from MyPeace, the organization that recently gave us the
“Jesus: a prophet of Islam” poster. Clearly deciding they’d generated enough
controversy for one year, MyPeace have now taken a softer approach; slo-mo
visuals, mood music and a warm Aussie voice inviting us to “explore the real
values of Islam.”
“Saving one life is as if you have saved all of
humanity” we learn, as a bronzed Aussie lifeguard rescues a boy from the surf.
You can’t quibble with that, particularly if you're a parent.
From an advertising point of view, the approach
is similar to the current “Jesus-All About Life” campaign, also featuring
visuals of sunburnt Aussies; along with a crème brulee, a dead pet goldfish,
and questions about the meaning of life. Jesus himself even gets a
chocolate-bar style logo.
Both ads - Muslim and Christian - offer a
panacea to the “crisis of the soul” that supposedly afflicts modern Australia.
Who could disagree with an ad that asks you to look after your parents in old
age, reminding you that they looked after you as a child? Or who could not be
moved by sentiments such as “How come the more you have, the more you want?” or
the facebook-ish conundrum that ”we’ve got more friends, but less
friendship"?
The role of advertising is to convert consumers
to a brand’s point of view by finding its most salient aspect, linking it to a
compelling insight, and allowing the brand to put its best foot forward. Both
ads do just that. Were I currently in the market for a religious organization
to join, I’d be saying “sign me up for either one of those, thanks. They sound
great. In fact, I think I’ll take them both.” After all, you can’t have too much
of a good thing. With all ads, however, it’s worth reading the fine print
first. Just in case.
The Jesus ad is sponsored by a whole host of
Christian organizations, so if I sign up I'll have to make the sort of
mind-numbing decisions normally required for choosing a broadband plan. Should
I go Baptist or United? Join the Salvos or Hillsong? Too hard - I give up.
The MyPeace campaign for Islam is much simpler,
giving me chapter and verse of the Qu’ran to help me make up my mind. It
invites me to look more closely at the Qu’ran, so I do. It only takes a few seconds
online to check the veracity of the advert's claims. Yep. Chapter 5 verse 32 points
out the benefit of saving every single life, although oddly it refers to saving
the Children of Israel rather than the Nippers of Bondi. But the point is the
same. Intrigued, I read on.
And that is, of course, the problem with selective quoting. Readers
should judge for themselves the appeal of the Koranic verses either side of the
one quoted, but as an ad man I would struggle to make either 5:31 or 5:33 as
convincing a “sell” as the lifesaver scenario. One has to admire
the chutzpah (if that’s the right word) of choosing as your major sales pitch a
quote adjacent to one advocating “that they should be
murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off.” Still, the
Bible has more than its fair share of blood and gore. Selective quoting (and
interpretation) is something all religions and advertisers are guilty of, so it
would be wrong to single out this ad exclusively.
However, reading the rest of the passage felt a bit like
a chocaholic being sold an amazing new flavour of Magnum ice-cream, eagerly
biting into it, and discovering it's anchovy.
Will the ad “bring Islam to the masses”? No,
but it will make many non-Muslims re-consider their attitudes towards the
religion. Will it attract converts? Undoubtedly. Was it worth doing?
Definitely. Taken at face value, it is a positive expression of worthy
sentiments espoused by Muslims. Full credit to MyPeace and its founder Diaa
Mohamed, who clearly recognizes the need for Islam to be seen putting its best
foot forward and engaging in mainstream public debate about how its values are
relevant to contemporary society. “We hope this campaign provides Australians
with fact and insight around Islam,” Mohamad maintains. No problems there. Some
consumers, however, may find themselves unconvinced when it comes to reading
the fine print.
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