Controversial “Jihad” Ad Airs on Muni

jihad ad on muni via ktvu
Photo via KTVU

An ad campaign using the controversial word “jihad” has launched on Muni buses, and the reception has been mixed. The “My Jihad” ad campaign from the Council on American Islamic Relations first launched in Chicago in December, and was started partly because of an earlier “support Israel” bus ad campaign by Pamela Geller. The Council on American Islamic Relations says that the goal of the “My Jihad” campaign is to “share the proper meaning of jihad,” according to the CAIR’s official website.

From a KQED report:

“Jihad is a central tenet of the Islamic creed which means struggling uphill in order to get to a better place,” CAIR said in a media release.

“My Jihad is to build friendships across the aisle,” the ads say. “What’s yours?”

CAIR started the advertising partly to counter an earlier bus advertising campaign by Pamela Geller. “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel,” said Geller’s ads. “Defeat jihad.”

We found another version of the ad on Twitter via @ZahraBilloo.

jihad ad on muni
Photo by zbilloo

Have you seen these ads, and what do you think?

6 comments

  • Education is good. I hope this campaign is long-lasting.

  • Zann

    I hope it goes well! Of course, we have a negative response to the word here, but it’s based purely on an ignorance of the meaning. I think it would do them well to clarify the meaning in smaller print on the ads rather than just in press releases, but “reclaiming” the word is a great idea. There will likely be the usual vandalism to the ads. I think we’ll all survive just fine, though…

  • Seems like a positive and educational campaign. I’m in favor.

  • Advertisers and propagndists can always argue that their campaigns inform us; do we ever compare their product to what we call “education?”

    What have our schools taught us recently– before we the proletariat have been trapped into debt and silence under unrepresentative governments?

    In the marketplace all is made equal– especially if it includes the requisite “money smile,” Capitalism’s iconographic ever-toothy omni-present dictator.

    Edginess or cleverness of message cannot compete with the over-reaching message: focus on identity to the exclusion of solidarity.

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