In an effort to stop every large corporation from pulling a “Dunkin’ Donuts” (no, not waking up early in the morning to bake delicious goods! We like that part). Rather, that whole business of pulling ads out of fear that post 9/11 consumers with their heightened awareness and their memorization of the color coded security alert chart, will run for cover each time they hear the word Muslim, there needs to be some understanding of Muslim culture. And more importantly, how that culture translates to the world of advertising.
The AHRC has funded a program that will ‘serve as an international research network exploring the representation of Muslim identities in contemporary cultural discourses’. One order of business is a conference at the Free University of Berlin called “Contemporary Muslim Consumer Cultures”, taking place in September. The goal of the conference is “creating a network of international scholars and young researchers with various approaches to the subject.”
The conference will include two keynote speakers, two panel discussion experts and a number of workshops. Michael Hastings-Black of Desedo Films is one guest at the conference that will be sharing his research on how advertising and new media has affected Muslim-American pop culture.
I’m excited to get my hands on a list of what other guests have been invited to speak. The dialogue and research should prove to be interesting, to say the least. How many of you want to bet that clients will be referencing said research at there next quarterly meeting?
The tricky part is going to be erasing negative ideals and stereotypes implanted in consumers out of extreme fear. Right Wing Conversatives get your pens ready. There’s certain to be plenty to pick apart as the dialogue continues and the marketing strategy is ironed out.
I’m curious to see what title will be attributed to marketing to the Muslim population. Anyone remember Urban Marketing? McDonald’s sure does…