I was browsing over internet that day and a web advertisement got my attention. The ad says, “Are you a Yahoo or a Muslim?” It’s an ad of a new email service named “Bismillah Mail”. The unique thing is that this email service is solely targeted to the Muslim community of the world. Well, its true that a lot of business organizations have found the idea of producing products and services targeting Muslim community (i.e. Halal soaps, Halal foods, Azan notification etc.) But may be this is the first time a whole email service is being offered to a community.
Personally I think these kinds of practice should be prohibited as IT is for all regardless any religion. And creating more differences between religions is not a good idea as these practices have never benefitted to anyone. However may be its okay with others to have an email service solely dedicated to a religious community. So lets be it.
Personally I think these kinds of practice should be prohibited as IT is for all regardless any religion. And creating more differences between religions is not a good idea as these practices have never benefitted to anyone. However may be its okay with others to have an email service solely dedicated to a religious community. So lets be it.
But I have a problem with the usage of the language in that ad. The ad goes like this:
This is the meanest minded marketing communication I have ever seen. So what does the Bismillah Mail want to tell people with this line?? That, people who use yahoo are not Muslim? Or you can’t be Muslim if you are using Yahoo while BM (Bismillah Mail) is there? I mean, they could have said, “Are you Yahoo or Bismilah mail?” That would have made a lot better sense. I found this one really insane which is why I am writing about this. This is the perfect example of playing with people’s religious or spiritual feelings for doing business. A lot of people would be misguided with this ad be them Muslims or people following other religions.
Then, I found the placement of the ad quite interesting. They presented this ad at web blog which consists the heading:
Then, I found the placement of the ad quite interesting. They presented this ad at web blog which consists the heading:
”Mohamed Cartoonist to be honored”
Mohamed (sm) is the prophet of Muslim community. Years ago someone published cartoons of Mohamed (sm) which had created a lot of chaos in Muslim community. However this blog says that the cartoonist had been awarded at a conference on freedom of the press. So generally this news would have a negative impact on a Muslim person. Bismillah Mail put this ad here to get advantage of the negative impact on the mind of the readers of this news blog.
Well, in the end I’d just call this advertisement effort a nasty one. “Bismillah” is a holy word to Muslims. It means, “In the name of Allah”. Bismillah Mail just positioned themselves as a narrow minded business organization who strive on confusing the belief of Muslims. Hopefully Bismillah Mail would understand their mistake soon and won’t do this kind job in future.
Well, in the end I’d just call this advertisement effort a nasty one. “Bismillah” is a holy word to Muslims. It means, “In the name of Allah”. Bismillah Mail just positioned themselves as a narrow minded business organization who strive on confusing the belief of Muslims. Hopefully Bismillah Mail would understand their mistake soon and won’t do this kind job in future.
