Whole Foods Abandons Ramadan Marketing Campaign (UPDATE)

Whole Foods is the object of a growing controversy about the popular grocery chain's treatment of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting for Muslims that started Aug. 1.

On July 27, the retailer introduced a special promotion for the month of Ramadan on their blog, Whole Story, featuring special recipes and product giveaways for the month. This promotion also coincided with the introduction of a new halal-certified product line in Whole Foods stores.

A day later, Fast Company posted an article highlighting Whole Foods' online Ramadan campaign as a first for a major American food chain. The article presciently stated that although no major in-store promotions were planned, the Web and social media efforts were a bit of a risk in a U.S. marketplace that is often hostile to Islam.

Unsurprisingly, the campaign garnered the notice of right-wing bloggers who promptly branded Whole Foods as "jihadist" and "anti-Israel." The absurdity of this position may have been easily dismissed if not for the subsequent reaction by leadership at the company.

On Tuesday, the Houston Press published a report revealing the text of an internal email circulated by Whole Foods executives to the chain's stores.

"It is probably best that we don't specifically call out or 'promote' Ramadan ... We should not highlight Ramadan in signage in our stores as that could be considered 'Celebrating or promoting' Ramadan."

The email went on to explain that the promotion previously announced on the company's blog should not be misinterpreted to mean that the chain was celebrating or promoting Ramadan, saying, "The misinterpretation has generated some negative feedback from a small segment of vocal and angry consumers and bloggers."

Whole Foods' apparent capitulation to an extremely vocal minority of Islamophobes has already drawn significant ire from bloggers and on Twitter. What's your reaction to this story? Will this lead to significant trouble for the chain?

UPDATE:

Shortly after the publication of this story, Whole Foods publicly responded to the controversy on their Twitter feed, indicating the instruction to de-emphasize Ramadan was an isolated response by one of the company's 12 operating regions and not indicative of company-wide policy.

We are still carrying and promoting halal products for those that are celebrating Ramadan this month. We never sent a communication from our headquarters requesting stores take down signs or remove parts from this promotion. We have 12 different operating regions and unfortunately, one region reacted by sending out directions to promote halal and not specifically Ramadan after some negative online comments.

Comments

[NewHope360]

04:05 PM on 09/19/2011

Bad press and misinformation surrounding the Whole Foods/Saffron Road Ramadan promotion didn't stop Muslim Americans (and there are 8 million of them) from buying. Saffron Road posted a 300% increase in sales, which we report on here: http://newhope360.com/ethnic/saffron-roads-ramadan-campaign-drives-halal-food-awareness-sales

[John Lamoreaux]

12:11 AM on 08/22/2011

Nice article. Thanks to the author.

I went and looked at the "right-wing blogger" linked.

She tells a somewhat different version of events. Major points of interest.

1. Whole Foods never planned anything other
than an online campaign, a testing of the waters, to see if there
was sufficient interest for an in store campaign. Folks only took
notice of this online campaign because of another event.

2. The controversy started with one of the products
being carried by the store, a type of oil,
made by a company that's anti-Jewish.
The blogger call the store on the product,
and how it was being marketed --
that ended up getting mixed up
by others with the Ramadan campaign.

Anyhow, it seems some are pointing to these events,
and concluding that Americans saw a mention
of Islam and started frothing at the mouth,
as they're nothing more than nasty bigots.

That doesn't seem to be the case.

Good to see HPost is trying make things clear.

-. --- -

[gajagba]

09:10 AM on 08/21/2011

There will never be peace in the world because of moslims, why?

[tyruler]

09:18 PM on 08/26/2011

Apparently you can't read or spell very well.

[artboxone]

03:59 PM on 08/23/2011

flagged.

[tyruler]

09:21 PM on 08/26/2011

Of course and according to your logic America is not a country because it unleashed horroific violence and slaughtered more Muslims in the Iraqi invasion alone than all people who have been killed by al-Qaeda, a criminal gang that is hated especially amongst Muslims for tarnishing the name of their faith.

[joanwiersma]

01:54 PM on 08/20/2011

Just checking. I'm so happy to see that all of the hoopla over this has subsided. :) Have a great day! :-D

[rdobbs2010]

03:18 AM on 08/14/2011

I called Whole Foods of Milwaukee Wisconsin and spoke with a representative in the Meat Department. When I asked about Halal meat, I was asked "what do you mean by Halal." After failing to be able to inform this employee, I just said it is like Kosher and he finally understood. So how can they promote a food line if there employees are ignorant to Halal food?

[Puncastle]

08:35 AM on 08/16/2011

Whole Foods carries a line of Halal frozen entrees, called "Saffron Road". In fairness, you can't expect the average person to know what Halal means, especially since it is just a general word for Zabihah.

[tyruler]

09:22 PM on 08/26/2011

So true.

[Ninveh Albazi]

09:37 PM on 08/13/2011

Ramadan Karim and Eid Mubarak to all who celebrate it. Good job for whole foods. Keep it up.

[Meg Ferguson Quinette]

10:29 PM on 08/11/2011

I agree with Betta....and what a nice thing he said. So often we forget to tell people that they ARE appreciated ! Thank you for reminding us.

[hello All]

09:15 PM on 08/11/2011

Obesity epidemic http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html
Watch that colorful map, its very informative.

[ninjasrolled]

09:31 PM on 08/11/2011

I did some research into starting a community garden in Chicago in some of the abandoned lots on the south and west sides in the poorer neighborhoods. When you lay the map of dense areas of abandoned lots over the map of obesity in children in Chicago, they lay almost exactly the same. Fortunately, the food deserts in Chicago have shrunk significantly over the last decade, and though I didn't start the garden, my friend did. Now I get to volunteer without the headache of running a non-profit (:

[Lulo]

04:45 PM on 08/11/2011

I just had some Halal food from a local joint. You kidding me? This stuff was awesome. I could give a s#it if is Muslim, Mongolian or freaking Martian.

Here is a funny one from a friend in Orange County: The guy was buying some lamb at a halal butcher and they were a couple of women outside protesting. Well, my buddy went to talk to them and they were both very angry and sort of "together" though they did not know each other (sort of "momentary friends") It had never occurred to neither to enquire further about their positions. so my my buddy asked them. HA!!: As it turned out one was a PETA-type vegan protesting butchering and the other a TEA-party type evangelical protesting Muslims. Once they found out that, they begun arguing with each other.

Buahahahahahahahahaha....

Somewhere in the year 3000 an anthropologist from some other quadrant will write a thesis that will finally explain the mystery of what went wrong on planet Earth during the 21st century.

[joanwiersma]

07:27 PM on 08/11/2011

Lol!! That was so funny!!! hahahahahaha Thanks for the story. :-D

[22Keys]

04:40 PM on 08/11/2011

There is nothing racist about being terrified of certain ideas. This has nothing to do with skin color, language, nationality, etc. If you were unaware of some of the disturbing trends in Islam perhaps you should be aware that approx. 36 percent of 18-24 year old British muslims believe that apostates should be killed. Is this enough to have the multicultural fog clear from your consciousness?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-432075/Multiculturalism-drives-young-Muslims-shun-British-values.html

[joanwiersma]

07:30 PM on 08/11/2011

No, because I don't fall for things like that. I mean the idea that Muslims are all spooky and/or evil. I've seen more disturbing trends in Christianity in this country than I care to think about. It's almost like being on another planet nowadays.

[gajagba]

08:50 AM on 08/21/2011

All terrorists are moslems and that is what it is and should be treated as such

[hello All]

09:32 PM on 08/11/2011

If you are unaware of some of the disturbing trends in Christianity and Judaism perhaps you should be aware that on a question

"Some people think that for an individual person or a small group of persons to target and kill CIVILIANS is sometimes justified while other think that kind of violence is never justified, which is your opinion"

Response of different groups:

Muslims: Never 89%, Sometimes 11%
Christians: Never 71%, Sometimes 26%
Jews: Never 71%, Sometimes 27%

http://www.gallup.com/poll/148763/Muslim-Americans-No-Justification-Violence.aspx

Who should be American afraid of?

[22Keys]

11:58 AM on 08/12/2011

We could cherry pick statistics all day. The truth is the Abrahamic conception of God (Islam, Christianity, and Judaism) is a not a nice guy. You are NEVER going to see a Jain advocating violence because their core principles do not allow it. While in Abrahamic faiths, violence is permitted as a form of conquest/self defense.

[gajagba]

08:55 AM on 08/21/2011

Muslims

[bi-poplar]

03:44 PM on 08/11/2011

Then please do not advertise Passover specials, or Christmas specials, or Easter specials. Stick to July 4th BBQ (although the Baggers would have us believe that it's a religious holiday).

[Will98]

03:14 PM on 08/11/2011

the right wing never misses a chance to incite hate and biotry in America

[Richard Aron]

02:27 PM on 08/11/2011

I always look for Kosher labeled food when I shop, because I feel that it's held to a higher standard, and I don't mean religious standard. Just the handling and sanitation. So, Halal would be NO difference. We have all kind of food labels in this country, organic, gluten-free, vegan, etc.

[anitaj]

05:41 PM on 08/12/2011

Actually, all that "Kosher" means is that the item in question does not contain pork. Having worked in the food-production industry I have seen rabbis walk around the production floor and, seeing no pig parts, proceed to aprove products as Kosher.

[Melinda Buchanan]

10:14 AM on 08/11/2011

9/11 was bad, but so was Hitler, the Japanese at Pearl Harbor, The UniBomber......oh and even the civil war where America was against America...but we don't discriminate Germany, Japan, White People or anyone else. People do bad things sometimes, but that doesn't mean they are all awful. Should we start banning all Japanese Religions? Not all muslims are bad, just like not all japanese or black people are bad.