I'm in the market for a new laptop, since mine seems to be on its last legs. And, as always, prior to a major purchase I do my research; and though I haven't quite settled on which one to buy (it has to be good for my photography) I decided to check out the Sunday advertising inserts today. So, I'm checking out Best Buy and smack dab on the front page, right on top of the "Shop Thanksgiving Day at BESTBUY.COM" is Happy Eid al-Adha. Odd, methinks, since nowhere does it say Happy Thanksgiving, just shop Thanksgiving Day.
Happy Eid al-Adha? On a Thanksgiving Day advertising circular? Now, I thought Eid ended the month of Ramadan, but it turns out Muslims celebrate 2 Eid festivals. This one occurs after the completion of Hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca). This year it is celebrated from November 27th through November 30th, though the dates fluctuate from year to year.
Interesting how things have changed, of late. Now, I'm pretty open-minded and I have no problem with being inclusive of other religious holidays, as long as it doesn't co-opt the original one, like Tyson Farms attempted to do with Labour Day and Eid al-Fitr, the other Eid holiday.
And since when do companies start honoring the lesser known holidays of the major religions of the world? They don't even honor the well known ones. Anyone seen Happy Diwali (Hindu) on a Best Buy insert? And forget any of the Buddhist holidays.
It just would have been nice to see Happy Thanksgiving somewhere on the insert, considering the sale is a Thanksgiving Day sale, not an Eid al-Adha sale.
4 comments:
Wow that is bad PR.
and very bizarre.
Really, this ruffles your feathers? How sad.
Best Buy seems to specialize in bad PR.
Here is another incident with out friend @ Halls of Macadamia.
http://hallsofmacadamia.blogspot.com/2009/11/dear-belleville-best-buy.html
I had a similar issue with Zellers and this is my story :
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Companies that treat their customer like shit do so at their own peril.
Last year I wrote to Zellers expressing my outrage at the fact that their advertising had banished the word Christmas, referring instead to some nebulous feast called "Holiday Joy".... hence Holiday Joy trees, Holiday Joy lights, etc. I also pointed out how they had prominently had the word "RAMADAN" in their advertising just a few months ago for the muslim feast.
I received a half assed non answer, probably from some low level clerk.
As a result, I have not spent a single $ at Zellers/HBC in the last one year. I have also managed to involve around 4-5 friends and families in boycoting these companies.
I estimate that Zellers has lost around 1500$ from me and probaly a similar amout from my friends.
Last month I wrote to the Public Relations department of both Zellers and HBC pointing out what happened last year and hoping that this year they would not repeat the same.
Of course, I have received not a line in response from them.
So this year, I have told a much larger group of friends of this incident and quite possibly around 25 families will be boytotting both these stores.
At some point this is going to hurt their bottom line.
All who read this blog should keep an eye out for Zellers Christmas advertising and see if they have the balls to acknowledge the Christian majority who form this country. If not, you might be better server directing your business elsewhere.t
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