A recent Best Buy ad (hat tip to CrunchGear) promoting the store's Black Friday sales includes a nod to the Muslim holiday Eid Al-Adha, which is celebrated that day.
Sounds rather innocent, doesn't it?
Instead of being praised for its inclusiveness, Best Buy is being attacked by some customers who have made their views known on the company's message board. Some consumers are particularly irked because the home electronics retailer recently announced that it will no longer put "Merry Christmas" in its flyers.
Conservative groups like the the American Family Association began attacking the retailer in 2006 after the chain said it would replace "Merry Christmas" with "Happy Holidays" in its ads. Best Buy, for its part, denies it has abandoned the C word altogether; it can be found on gift cards and online. The AFA has yet to comment on the ad.
The AFA has also called for a boycott of The Gap for its new holiday commercial which includes shout-outs to Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Solstice, in addition to Christmas.
But there seems to be a small and vocal group of Best Buy customers who don't appreciate the flyer. Some of the colorful customer responses on Best Buy's message board include (please note that these may not accurately reflect the nature of the holiday Eid Al-Adha):
"Makes sense. Stop saying Christmas because you dont want to be associated with Jesus, and instead associate yourself with goat sacrifice. Truly noble. I think ill go to Best Buy with a dead goat."
Or this response:
"Eid is not about "giving to the poor", etc. It is about sacrifice. I live in a Muslim country and the streets literally run with blood during this holiday. That is not an exaggeration. Yes, they give some of the meat to the poor...but it is all about sacrifice."
Check out more of the comments at Best Buy's message board.