An advertisement campaign for a snoring remedy, ”SnoreStop” has gained a lot of attention. Apparently because the ad shows a real life American soldier with a Muslim wife.
SnoreStop ”Be together”:
Is the ad controversial? Is it offensive? Fox talked about the ad on ”The Kelly File”:
One woman wrote that the mental state of her veteran husband with PTSD would be damaged by seeing the happy couple on the billboard.
If that is really true I suggest he remains safely locked up. In a nice place, with some trees, you know… But definitely locked up. There are more Muslim women walking around in America!
According to Fox, Florida and Texas have already said ”No” to the company in case they might want to show the billboards in these states.
The three people on the panel stated that they have no problem with the ad itself, but they do with the woman wearing niqaab on the billboard, as it being politicized and the face covering being suppressive, and it being a stereotyping of American Muslim women.
Megyn Kelly was upset because one of the billboards was on Time’s Square… some miles from ground zero!
Now I think the ad company is very clever, they are getting the kind of attention which normally only a huge outlay of money could procure. And I think that is why they choose to use a picture with the woman wearing a niqab, instead of a hijab on the billboards. On the ”The making off” video, you see some glimpses of the woman in different styles of hijab, pink top with white hijab, a pink hijab, purple hijab with black abaya and niqab, and in the video she is wearing a business type of suit and matching hijab. I think they went for he most severe style to shock people and get attention. They say they hope it will make people start talking about diversity. Of course, not just the product. Ahum.
The spokes person for SnoreStop ”There’s couples like these which do exist”:
The ad company’s video on ”the making of” the billboard:
Read more:
Mediaite
Filed under: Uncategorized
Well, first, I’m a retired US service member.
*I* am offended by the capitalizing upon service members.
As for the PTSD opinion, that is your opinion, I far prefer the opinion of a professional in mental health care. Some PTSD sufferers may experience self-destructive or otherwise destructive tendencies, many will not. To group all together is to merely segregate veterans and victims of violent crime.
As to the “message” of the advertisements, I’ll say this:
I do not snore.
What I do is beyond the vocabulary of the English language. What I do is an obscenity along the lines of deforestation of entire planets.
Hurricanes have been cancelled by what I do when I sleep and I don’t mean flatulence, that is another article about aging. ?
First, let’s look at the product. Yet another patent medicine product, aka snake oil. Sprays and drops cure that which modern medical science cannot cure. In a halal way.
Or something.
Frankly, your impression of creating a controversy is correct. Free advertising beyond their budget by pissing people off.
Still, there is being pissed off in the right kind of way. Ensuring that patent medicine can back up their nonsensical claims with evidence based results of evidence based studies.
And, of course, increasing the fines to beyond a mere hand slap to the criminals who choose to disobey the law.
Sheesh, chill out. Go and snort this company’s other product: ”AngerOff”
Just looking at the picture, not having watched any of the videos, I was wondering if wearing niqab stops snoring?
Reblogged this on بعدما دخلت الآلة في الصحراء and commented:
Ok, finally moving beyond the stereotypes?
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Moderator
Thought about this quite a bit and had discussions with my husband about it. Firstly I thought it was not a good idea but I’ve changed my mind altogether. Americans need to become more like the Californians interviewed. I also do not want to hear tales of war. If Americans are so traumatized then we’d better not show any American soldiers or ex-soldiers with their Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean or even German wives. Americans were marrying Vietnamese women right left and center during that American caused fiasco!
I liked the last two videos on the subject and I hope that the company will now put out another ad or billboard featuring another couple that people would not normally put together. My husband suggested a Jewish man with a Yamulka (sp) on his head and a woman with a hijab. LOL!
Do you know the difference between spamming and re-blogging?
Please read the blog rules.
Moderator
Hi again,
Apparently, when I clicked the re-blog button on my reader page, it generated an “automatic” comment on your blog, with a link to my blog.
You may want to check your blog’s settings to stop being notified when people “re-blog” or “ping” your posts.
If you’re using wordpress, you can uncheck “Allow trackbacks and pingbacks on this page.” to stop such automated comments from appearing on your posts.
I did and those rules don’t seem to apply to me, as I did not make that comment.
It is an “automated” message generated by your own blog.
I removed the re-blog but you will have to delete that “generated” comment on your own and uncheck the “ping” settings on your blog to avoid such automated messages from appearing whenever anyone re-blogs your posts or links to them.
You may reblog when this site is acknowledged and a link is added. We get a great deal of pingbacks on this blog, your comment came in as a comment, not a pingback. Sorry if a mistake was made.
Moderator
I un-did the reblog, and am disappointed to unfollow your blog after being a reader for a few years now.
You can go ahead and delete the comments above.
I would suggest you use a web-designer to prevent these automated comments from appearing in the comment section, or send a suggestion to wordpress to fix their re-blog button in a way that is tailored to your rules.
have a good day.
Wendy is correct, GI’s of all countries all over the world, and in all centuries, have married the indigenous people. Hello, Egyptians, you are related to the Greeks by Alexander. It is how cultures and religions get spread.
Perhaps what should be more offensive is the sign on the building under the Snorestop one; Liquour. (This is in the first picture above). Snake oil, maybe, but they have the right to advertise and get the most bang for the buck they can even if they do something a bit controversial.
As the writer of a novel involving a Saudi and an American, I see nothing upsetting with this. Tolerance, people, learn some history, learn the true religion (not what some nut jobs have tried to turn it into), and learn about the real cultures: that includes Muslims learning western and Western cultures learning Islam.
(Moderator: I would like to reblog this. I ask your permission since it could be said I am using it to promote my book.)
Wendy, I like the last two videos too.
I am amazed to say it but I thought the Fox clip was actually quite reasonable. I mean the panel. Megyn seems always creepy to me, and the comment they read out was crazy, but the panel was ”normal”. And I actually agree with what they said; I thought the exact same thing, I don’t see the problem, but I do have a problem with Niqabs.
Did I just write that? I agree with something said on Fox?
And another thought crossed my mind, aren’t Muslim women generally forbidden to marry non-Muslims? So the soldier would be Muslim too wouldn’t he?? That should get some people’s panties in a twist?
Unless of course the woman is a very secular Muslim who married a non-muslim man regardless of religious rulings.
But then she would maybe probably not wear hijab? And certainly not the full abaya niqab get-up in America…
But then those beautifully manicured and lacquered nails don’t go with niqab either don’t they? Bit haram I would think…
I wish my nails looked were that pretty….?
Reblogs are allowed if provenance is given and a link back is provided. We mistook a pingback for a comment which violated blog rules, which we apologised for, but that doesn’t mean you can’t reblog. We usually don’t have the pingbacks shown because we get so very many on every article, it would mess up the comments too much.
Moderator
I don’t see anything wrong in the ad. May be controversy inducing, maybe cheap publicity , maybe ntrue but seriously, anyone can marry anyone they. Love, personal choice so what if she wears niqab or runs around naked, her choice.
God people get offended at the most silly issues.
Aafke… I used to have a real problem with the niqab but I’m changing my views a little depending on the circumstance. When it’s forced I am against it of course but it seems there’s an increase of women wearing them to make a statement. I can’t argue a woman’s choice because we have fought for freedom in this country. I draw the line at women refusing to take it off crossing borders, in legal situations, banks, etc. if they are living in a non-Muslim country.
There are many Muslim women who marry non-Muslim men outside Islamic countries. Islamic law might say it’s illegal but it certainly isn’t illegal in a secular country.
I am thinking that the ad producers didn’t ‘over-think’ the religious when they made the ad and did not examine what should or shouldn’t be. Good for them!
The woman in the ad is shown without her niqab and I got the distinct feeling that she didn’t cover her face when she went out. I have pictures of myself in an abaya, hijab and niqab in fact. Took that picture just to show how some might have liked me to cover in Saudi but in reality I did not cover my head at all.
I have a feeling that there will be more ads with more ‘unusual’ couples. Kinda reminds me of ‘The colours of Benetton’ when they started ads with all kinds of colourful skin.
This is the fuller version of the last video and it explains a bit more about where they are going with their ads.
Wendy, thanks for adding the link! That was very interesting.
There is another ”controversy” right now, about an ad for the superbowl, very cute ad you’d think, but it has a mixed race couple in it and the republicans are going berserk over it? Where am I? Did the plane fly through a wormhole and dumped me in the nineteenth century?
This is the link to the Cheerio ad, super, super cute! I love watching it!
My favorite after the Budweiser one of course, horses and so cute it makes me cry.
I agree that this is most likely done for publicity’s sake. However, it sounds as if the company also wants to promote diversity in advertising, which I am all for even if it makes them money. I don’t really have a problem with the billboard, except that in the commercial she’s wearing a hijab and in the billboard she also has her face covered. I don’t understand why they wouldn’t just stick to one style for the same woman. I think the video is more representative of the American population. In fact, many muslim women here simply do not cover their hair or if they do, I have seen it where they cover their hair by wearing hats, etc. So I can understand why some states may have a problem with it stereotyping. On the other hand, I really did enjoy that the Muslim American woman was an educated business woman in the advertisement.
Being married to an ex-soldier with PTSD, while I understand what people go through in the military, I found the woman’s comment about this billboard setting off PTSD very offensive, and prejudiced- enough that I would chew her out in public about it. I also have other family members that served in the military, so I know what it’s like to be around soldiers with PTSD. That said, if the billboards would set her husband/significant other off, I would recommend he see a psychologist/therapist that specializes in patients with PTSD because it sounds like there are deeper issues he needs to work through.
Also, the “husband” in the video could very well be Muslim. Who’s to say? It’s not as if he has to be Arab to be Muslim.
@Aafke,
The only thing controversial about that ad is the child getting a puppy without the mother’s permission.?
That kid is going to be a killer negotiator when grown up!
What I liked best about the snore video is that the wife is going to work and the husband is apparently the home maker… maybe that idea got some chauvinists scared as well….?
The Cheerios commercial was really great! We will be seeing more mixed race commercials and the Americans will just have to suck it up.
I posted the billboard commercial on a Canadian site to see what the response would be. To a person they commented on why was it so important to have a billboard about snoring!!! LOL!!! Not one Canadian mentioned the couple, the hijab, the face covering, the soldier or anything else. It was an absolute non-issue. After that I posted the video ad and they all were surprised that there was any ‘hoopla’ about it. Gotta love Canadians!
I definitely love Canadians!
AA, And why do you think that “Republicans are going berserk” over ads with bi-racial families? because MSNBC says so? Yeah, and if you were in the 19th century, you would be aware that it was the republicans that supported slavery and segregation.
I think the point of the ad is that snoring can be a real marriage killer, even more than physical or ideological differences. I don’t know if that is true or not. It was obviously done to gather attention to a product, which it did.
Wendy, the idea that Americans, particularly white ones, are more discriminatory or racist than other groups or even other nationalities (including Canada) is a staple of our friends on the left. These are the same people that ignore the realities of daily life if they do not fit their preconceived notions about “the other”, whoever it may be. The fact is that those who condemn for reasons of “stereotyping” are usually committing the very sin they denounce. We all stereotype and for every general rule there is an exception.
As to the yarmulke and hijab comment, right on. It would have been even better than the soldier and muslima, even if snoring would have been the least of the problems of such a couple.
Katcan…. “learn the true religion” pleeeeaaaase… I would first replace the definite article with an indefinite one and drop the adjective. The noun has to go, too — much to vague and meaningless. I am ok with the verb. Just trying to irritate you….
jay
I don’t think racism has anything to do with whether or not the person being racist is of a certain color; it has more to do with education level. I just consider racist people to be ignorant people who need to go get educated (and perhaps also put in their place). And of course, I find racist people offensive, too.
Sometimes, my husband and I get surprised looks from others and to be honest, I am not sure why. Someone even said something along the lines of “How did you marry your wife? Because, you know, white people are racist.” I didn’t even begin to know how to respond to that one. So apparently, it is odd for a white, formally educated American woman to marry an Arab muslim man with little to no formal education. Usually people are surprised at first, because I guess they expect me to be an average American woman who marries an average American man. But I don’t think I’ve had any first generation Americans be surprised about our coloring; usually it’s immigrants who are surprised. Some even want to know how to “hook up” with an American woman. I don’t know…meet through a random (or not-so-random) series of people on the fly and fall in love on the spot. Yeah…good luck making that happen on purpose! LOL. On the bright side, if my husband and I become fluent in Spanish, people may just think we’re Hispanic because it’s less odd than the truth, perhaps?. LOL. We could have fun with that one!?
*had any second generation Americans onward, meaning people who were born here onward…
cute ad!
Hi , I’m a Saudi young girl and all my life I’ve been attracted to American men. Do you think I have a chance in meeting my American dream ?! or I should just give up on my dream and marry a Saudi guy?!