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Fast-Food Company to Drop Logo After Muslims Gripe
CNS News ^ | September 19, 2005 | Patrick Goodenough

Posted on 09/19/2005 11:41:14 AM PDT by Millee

In the latest example of Western business interests giving in to pressure by offended Muslims, Burger King reportedly has withdrawn an ice cream product after complaints that a label design looks like the Arabic script for "Allah."

British media reported at the weekend that the fast-food restaurant chain pulled the "BK Cone" and pledged to redesign the label after Muslim customers complained.

The product label bears a pattern representing a stylized swirl of soft serve ice cream. But some customer looked at it sideways and thought they could see something else.

A London tabloid, The Sun, said Burger King fielded "dozens of complaints."

Another paper, the Scotsman, said Burger King "is being forced to spend thousands of pounds redesigning the lid." It quoted a Muslim Council of Britain spokesman as commending the company for "sensitive and prompt action."

Other business interests that have run afoul of Muslim sensibilities in similar circumstances include sportswear giant Nike, Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld and food and homecare manufacturer Unilever.

In 1997, Nike pulled tens of thousands of basketball shoes after it was told that the logo - the word "air" in flame-like letters - looked like "Allah" in Arabic when viewed from a certain angle.

Newsweek reported in July of that year that Nike had launched a program of "sensitivity training on Islam" and gave a donation to an Islamic school.

A year later, Unilever scrapped a new logo it had begun to use on Walls ice creams in the Middle East - again after Muslims said the intertwining red and yellow hearts looked like "Allah" in Arabic, when viewed upside down and backwards.

In 1994, Lagerfeld designed a dress incorporating a pattern he had copied from Arabic lettering on India's Taj Mahal monument. The lettering included the phrase "They are the ones who found guidance," used a number of times in the Koran.

German supermodel Claudia Schiffer received death threats after wearing the dress, prompting her mother to make a public plea for her safety. The designer apologized and burned the garments. He also destroyed photographs and negatives of the dress.

Coca Cola has for years struggled to dispel the rumor that the soft drink's trademark swirly-writing logo, when seen at a particular angle, looked like the Arabic script for "No Mohammed, No Mecca."

The company's website has a "myths and rumors" section where it contests the charge, arguing that "the trademark was created in 1886 in Atlanta, Georgia, at a time and place where there was little knowledge of Arabic."

"The allegation has been brought before a number of senior Muslim clerics in the Middle East who researched it in detail and refuted the rumor outright," it says.


TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: burgerking; islam; muslim; religionofpeace; trop
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To: Southside_Chicago_Republican
I wonder what would have happened if the guy had gotten an actual cone in which "Allah" was spelled out in the swirls of ice cream. Seems like it would be easy enough to do completely by accident. Would he have considered it some kind of miracle and bowed down to it?

I consider all soft-swirl ice cream cones to be miracles and bow down before them. With my ululating tongue hanging out, no less.

61 posted on 09/19/2005 12:38:38 PM PDT by HHFi
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To: Millee

In a related press release, a spokeswoman for Bugger King says "We fry all our food in LARD".


62 posted on 09/19/2005 12:39:52 PM PDT by azhenfud (He who always is looking up seldom finds others' lost change.)
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To: Millee

The Burger King where I live charges 75 cents extra any time you use a credit or debit card.


63 posted on 09/19/2005 12:43:13 PM PDT by stinkerpot65
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To: uglybiker
LOL!!! And, hand out a gazillion free coupons!
64 posted on 09/19/2005 12:45:08 PM PDT by hummingbird (21st Century Newsreporting - "Don't get me started!")
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To: Millee

If I was the CEO of Burger King, I would of told them to shove it.



65 posted on 09/19/2005 12:45:45 PM PDT by Proud_USA_Republican
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To: Millee

On the Up side of this, that'll be one less reference to allah floating around.


66 posted on 09/19/2005 12:46:55 PM PDT by GretchenM (Hooked on porn and hating it? Visit http://www.theophostic.com .)
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To: Millee
"...when viewed upside down and backwards."

Typical islamite perception - of anything.

67 posted on 09/19/2005 12:47:20 PM PDT by azhenfud (He who always is looking up seldom finds others' lost change.)
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To: Millee

"looked like 'Allah' in Arabic, when viewed upside down and backwards"

Funny, I thought they liked upside down and backwards. (Very backwards: say the 14th century.)


68 posted on 09/19/2005 12:48:00 PM PDT by reelfoot
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To: WKB

Too bad the second birth didn't take.... stuff it.


69 posted on 09/19/2005 12:52:20 PM PDT by deport
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To: deport
Awwwwww
Did I hurt your little feelings.
I'm sorry.
It's been my experience that the second
and third posts often times get more
replies and views than the first.
Believe it or not
NOT EVERYBODY sees something the first time
it's posted.
70 posted on 09/19/2005 12:56:46 PM PDT by WKB (A closed mind is a good thing to lose.)
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To: uglybiker

Ha ha, very good. I must be a little slow today, it took me a second to catch the reference there.


71 posted on 09/19/2005 12:57:35 PM PDT by -YYZ-
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To: Millee
If these people had a real alphabet they wouldn't get confused about this stuff.
72 posted on 09/19/2005 1:02:36 PM PDT by VadeRetro (Liberalism is a cancer on society. Creationism is a cancer on conservatism.)
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To: WKB

Believe it or not
NOT EVERYBODY sees something the first time
it's posted.



I agree 100%..... That is why I linked the first posting in case others would like to see the comments made on it.... Which I though some of were very good. I didn't page the Admin Mod or anyone else to pull the thread or lock it. I was only trying to share with others on this board.

No you didn't hurt my feelings one bit. You only showed your wanna be thread monitor desires or maybe it was your rear end. Now you have a nice day.


73 posted on 09/19/2005 1:04:21 PM PDT by deport
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To: deport

That is why I linked the first posting in case others would like to see the comments made on it....



An explanation would have been nice.


74 posted on 09/19/2005 1:07:33 PM PDT by WKB (A closed mind is a good thing to lose.)
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To: PBRSTREETGANG
Thank you for the picture comparison.

I think the Burger King design looks like a soft serve ice cream cone.

I think the Arabic "Allah" looks like three boobs.
75 posted on 09/19/2005 1:08:10 PM PDT by A knight without armor
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To: fortunecookie

"Burkha King"


LOL..


76 posted on 09/19/2005 1:16:44 PM PDT by skimask (Whatever happens it's Bush or Rove's fault.)
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To: azhenfud
French fryers in pig fat popper stoppers?

I'm sure if lard is used, that will have to be stopped, as well. I think they use vegetable oil these days. I couldn't imagine working fryers in a burqa. Ugh. One wrong move or splash and you'd go up like an old Christmas tree.

77 posted on 09/19/2005 1:25:30 PM PDT by fortunecookie
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To: skimask
"Burkha King" LOL..

Giving new meaning to 'fried to a crispy golden brown'.

78 posted on 09/19/2005 1:28:07 PM PDT by fortunecookie
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To: deport

Too bad the second birth didn't take.... stuff it.



FYI the second birth DID take.
Did yours?


79 posted on 09/19/2005 1:29:06 PM PDT by WKB (A closed mind is a good thing to lose.)
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To: Iron Matron

It would appear their ad campaign is a smashing success. You're thinking about Burger King a lot more than you used to.


80 posted on 09/19/2005 1:50:07 PM PDT by dmz
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