Marketing religion

The other day I was distracted by an ad on the side of a passing Muni bus (it looked a lot like this one, but oranger). Apparently the ad is part of a medium-sized campaign sponsored by a bay area Islamic organization.

Their goal is to urge more non-Muslims to learn about Islam and help remove negative stereotypes.

"We're basically sick and tired of people labeling us, of defining us, framing us, so I think it's time for us to stand up and basically inform the American public of who we are and what is our true identity," said Muhammad Hanif with the Islamic Circle of the Bay Area.

I don't think I would have even given the ad a second thought if it hadn't been just a couple days before that I ran into this while riding BART:

"All viewpoints. One platform. Join the discussion," in the little blue text, and a link to the website www.godridesbart.com.

This one I gave some thought to (granted it was more difficult to ignore since I was stuck inside a BART car with it for half an hour). My reaction was complete confusion. Despite being a fairly drab advertisement, there's a lot going on here. Unable to figure out the connection between God's choice of public transit and his interest in American politics, I bit, and checked out the website.

It turns out this is not a BART campaign intended to guilt riders into upstanding behavior, but is in fact (as the blue text hints) a forum for religious debate. The main page entices you into one of three discussion topics including, "Can there be justice without God?" and "Do we really need marriage anymore?" The resources page has a list of informational links in categories: Atheist, Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Other (coming soon).

So public transportation seems to be a popular target for the new religious marketing campaigns. There's no deception going on here, both campaigns are forthcoming with their mission (at least, after you've visited the site): the first, to improve the public image of Islam, and the second, to encourage debate on God.

What's most interesting to me (besides the question of whether one was inspired by the other) is the decision to use traditional advertising. Some people have questioned the morality (or even legality) of a municipal agency posting religious material. That, I take no issue with. The very premise of advertising is the subjection of the public to intentionally biased information. Whether the topic is Islam or a ski resort probably shouldn't bear on an ad's right to be posted in public (though at school is another matter). I do wonder, though, whether the association of consumer products and religion through use of traditional advertising is a particularly good idea for either mission.