U.S. advertisers reach out to Muslim consumers
By Louise Story
For years, few advertisers in the United States have dared to reach out to Muslims.
Either they did not see much potential for sales or they feared a political backlash. And there were practical reasons: Muslim-Americans come from so many ethnic backgrounds that their only common ground is their religion, a subject most marketers avoid.
Now, though, that is beginning to change.
Grocers and consumer product companies are considering ways to make their goods follow Muslim rules, which forbid pork, gelatin and pig fat, often used in cosmetics and cleaning products. Retailers are looking into providing longer skirts even during the summer months, and mainstream advertisers are planning to place some commercials on the satellite channels that Muslims often watch.
“I think Muslims have had to draw into themselves,” said Marian Salzman of JWT, a large advertising agency in the WPP Group that plans to encourage clients, including Johnson & Johnson and Unilever, to market to American Muslims. “It puts an increased burden on a marketer, post-9/11, to say, ‘Look, we understand.’ ”
Marketing to Muslims carries some risks. But advertising executives, used to dividing American consumers into every sort of category, say that ignoring this group – estimated to be about 5 million to 8 million people and growing fast – would be like missing the Hispanic market in the 1990s.
Companies in the Detroit area, where there is a dense population of Muslims, are leading the change. A McDonald’s there serves halal Chicken McNuggets; Walgreens has Arabic signs in its aisles. And now, Ikea, which recently opened a store in the suburb of Canton that has had trouble attracting as many Muslim customers as hoped, has been touring local homes and talking to Muslims to figure out their needs.
The store there plans to sell decorations for Ramadan next fall and is adding halal meat to its restaurant menu. Catalogues will be offered in Arabic, and female Muslim employees will be given an Ikea-branded hijab, to wear over their head if they wish.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/27/business/muslim.php