It all started with an email that the Whole Foods sent to its US stores, asking its various locations in the country to not to include Ramadan in its marketing campaign this year. The email reportedly instructed its officials not to “specifically call our or promote Ramadan.” This happened just a week after the company had begun to promote halal products throughout the holy fasting period of Muslim community, which will last for a month.

A portion of the mail, published in one of the newspapers, reads, “It is probably best that we don’t specifically call our or ‘promote’ Ramadan. We should not highlight Ramadan in signage in our stores as that could be considered ‘Celebrating or promoting’ Ramadan.”

The Beginning

The story begins on July 27, 2011, when the Whole Foods introduced a special promotion campaign for the month of Ramadan on its blog, “Whole Story” and featured recipes and product giveaways for the Muslim community’s holy month. The company, at the same time, also introduced a new, halal-certified product line in Whole Foods outlets. The campaign was publicized on other websites as a first for a major American food chain. A Fast Company article, posted online, also said that the social media efforts of the Whole Foods were “a bit of a risk in a US marketplace,” usually considered hostile to Islam.

The Backlash

It didn’t take the right-wing bloggers much time to notice what was going on and they were prompt in branding the Whole Foods Company as “jihadist” and “anti-Israel.”  There were angry comments from hostile bloggers, who wanted the company to step back on its promotional campaign for Ramadan. The revelation of the Company email leaked recently, added fuel to fire.

The campaign, which the Company claims, was to target the upper-middle-class Muslim-Americans, faced vehement criticism from bloggers like Debbie Schlussel and right-wing online forums like Free republic.

Debbie Schlussel says in her blog:

“..And I’m not upset that Whole Foods is being boycotted.  In fact, I love it.  It’s a great episode in poetic justice for a store chain that helps fund and promote jihad and anti-Semitic/anti-Israel radio programming.  And now they’re getting what they deserve . . . from their own crazy ideologues.”

The public opinion forum, Free Republic, has, however, accused the health food chain of monetizing the holy season, as it wrote on its portal:

“Whole Foods has become the first prominent supermarket chain to run a Ramadan marketing campaign--and they're hoping Muslim customers will return the favor as they break fast. Even though Muslims traditionally forego meals during the day, lavish evening Ramadan meals could mean big bucks for the natural foods giant ... as well as brand loyalty from a demographic not traditionally courted by megastore advertising.”

The Defence

The company was forced to take a departure from its tolerant stand reportedly because of anti-Muslim bloggers and internal dissent within the company. The serious backlash has forced the company to write that email and the company officials to go on the back foot. The damaging email says by way of defence:

"We recently introduced a line of frozen products in Grocery that are Halal certified (meet Muslim dietary laws) called Saffron Road," the email continues. "With the introduction of this line company wide, and the beginning of Ramadan last week, we posted a product giveaway on the Whole Story blog (on July 31) to generate awareness and interest in the products. Some people have misinterpreted the blog post to mean we are celebrating or promoting Ramadan in our stores. The misinterpretation has generated some negative feedback from a small segment of vocal and angry consumers and bloggers."

The Texas-based grocery chain also said on Twitter that it was not canceling its current halal promotion.

The Conclusion

As we see, the Whole Foods has been accused of two main transgressions here. One is reportedly favouring the Muslims over people of other faith and second of seeking monetary benefits out of the pious Muslim month. As the company feels the heat of its Ramadan campaign, it remains to be seen whether this wave of hatred against Muslims will sustain further or die its own death. Till then, it is just wait and watch! And, by the way, Happy Ramadan!!!

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