In the meantime, starting such a protest draws media attention, generates controversy, and pretty much acts as free advertising for the show on a broader scale than the network could ever afford through conventional marketing. It will be interesting over the next few weeks to see what happens with its ratings. It debuted with a modest 1.7M viewers (not a shockingly high or low number for a ten PM Sunday night slot) and in its third week had dropped nearly 50% to roughly one million.◼ At least two advertisers have withdrawn commercials from “All-American Muslim,” a new series on the TLC cable channel, since an activist organization called the Florida Family Association condemned the show. But others cited by the organization as pulling out as sponsors are disputing the claim. - NY Times
The organization has attacked the series as propaganda that obscures “the Islamic agenda’s clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values.” The series, which has been on TLC at 10 p.m. Sunday since mid-November, follows the lives of five Muslim-American families in Dearborn, Mich., a Detroit suburb with a sizable Muslim population.◼ 'All-American Muslim': Kayak calls show terrible, apologizes to customers - LA Times
The organization says 65 companies have left the show since it began urging advertisers to withdraw their support. Among those that have were Kayak, the travel Web site, and Lowe’s, the home-improvement retailer.
◼ Another company has pulled its ads from TLC’s controversial docu-series “All-American Muslim,” saying it did so because TLC “was not upfront with us about the nature of this show” and was deliberately “trying to pick a fight” over the series. The online travel company Kayak.com also says that its chief marketing officer watched a couple of episodes and thought they were lousy. - Washington Post
“When TLC pitched ‘All-American Muslim’ to advertisers, it was characterized as a fair-and-balanced look at the life of an American Muslim. However, what was not disclosed was the preexisting controversy surrounding race, religion and specifically the divide between the Muslim and Christian communities in Dearborn, Mich.,” Birge said in the statement e-mailed to The TV Column.◼ The Shocking Truth about Lowe's and All American Muslim - Walid Shoebat and Ben Barrack/Jihad Watch
“Dearborn has been a center of controversy for right or wrong; however, that was omitted by TLC when it pitched the show.”
◼ ANOTHER SHOW PULLS ADS OFF "ALL AMERICAN MUSLIM" - Atlas Shrugs
Was it the media controversy? Or perhaps the boring story line? The coerced conversion to Islam? The banishment of the newly converted husband's dog? Or perhaps it was the Hezb'Allah supporting (the same Hezb'Allah killing our CIA agents in Lebanon and Iran) Husham Alhusayni – the main spiritual leader of the Karbala Center in Dearborn and featured in All American Muslim, which airs on The Learning Channel (TLC). In the program, Hezbo-linked Alhusayni is seen presiding over marriages within Muslim families in Dearborn, whose day-to-day lives are portrayed as they interact in English. ◼ (read the whole ugly thing here).◼ Lowe's faces backlash over pulling ads from 'All-American Muslim' - LA Times
Whatever the case, Kayak has pulled its ads off the dead in the water show.
Politicians and activists slam Lowe's choice to stop advertising on a reality TV show about Muslim Americans. The home improvement chain says it did so only after the show became a 'lightning rod.'
