The first ad with a Muslim cleric will remind you what holiday spirit is really about
Everyone likes getting a surprise gift in the mail, and a new Amazon ad works to remind us we all have more in common than we sometimes remember.
After a bitterly divisive election season, reports of hate crimes on the rise and talk of a national Muslim registry, America has emerged damaged and fractured. But as the holidays approach, an Amazon ad tries to remind us ‘tis the season for love and caring — and sending gifts from the online retailer. The ad features a Christian priest visited by a Muslim cleric who talk and laugh over a cup of tea. The older men laugh when they realize they both have creaky knees as they struggle to get up from their seats.
After the Muslim leaves his friend’s house, both men use their phones to order something sent to the other man. They both receive a package (delivered by Prime, a plug for the Amazon quick delivery) and find out they ordered the same thing for one another: a pair of knee braces.
“We think it is an authentic and charming story. We think it is a legitimate story,” Simon Morris, Amazon’s European Union director of advertising, told Carbonated.TV. “We are conscious that some people may be sensitive to it. It is about selflessness and thinking of other people.”
The commercial is thought to be the first to feature a Muslim cleric, and is set in England. The spot will air there, in the U.S. and Germany. All three nations have seen a rise in the popularity in populism and a national struggle over how to handle immigrants. Donald Trump was elected president after racist comments about immigrant groups, including Muslims, and calling for a ban on Muslim immigration to the country because of terrorist attacks.
There have been reports of an increase in hate crimes against Muslims since Election Day, but recent FBI statistics show such instances have been rising since last year. In 2015, there was a 67 percent increase in hate crimes against Muslim Americans. Such acts are at the highest levels since immediately after the 9/11 attacks.
Amazon said the commercial was not intended to be a comment on the current political climate in the U.S. and that work on the spot began in June. Morris told USA Today that the online retailer worked with several religious and interfaith groups to ensure the ad was “respectful.” The two men are played by actual religious leaders, a vicar at a church in London and a principal at a Muslim school in Leicester.
This story was originally published November 21, 2016 at 12:29 PM with the headline "The first ad with a Muslim cleric will remind you what holiday spirit is really about."