Elizabeth Weise reports for USA Today about a TV ad featuring an Anglican priest and an imam:
The most surprising thing about Amazon’s latest ad for its Prime service is that it appears to be the first time a Muslim cleric has been featured in a television ad shown in the United States.
“I can’t think of one. There are plenty of religious figures in televisions, especially sitcoms and police procedurals. But no ads with imams,” said Tobe Berkovitz, a professor of advertising at Boston University.
… The lead characters in the commercial are played by actual religious leaders. They are Gary Bradley, vicar at St Mary’s and Paddington Green in London and Zubier Mohammad, principal of the Muslim School Oadby in Leicester, Morris said. The advertisement was filmed at two churches, St. Dunstan and All Saints Stepney Church in London, and at the East London Mosque.
While Muslims are a small minority in the United States, making up just under 1% of the U.S. population, there are 3.3 million of them and there have been Muslim communities in the country for decades.
