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Fast-Food Company to Drop Logo After Muslims Gripe
CNSNEWS.COM ^ | September 19, 2005 | Patrick Goodenough

Posted on 09/21/2005 8:54:32 AM PDT by Seamus Mc Gillicuddy

Fast-Food Company to Drop Logo After Muslims Gripe By Patrick Goodenough CNSNews.com International Editor September 19, 2005

(CNSNews.com) - 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the latest example of Western business interests giving in to pressure by offended Muslims, Burger King reportedly has withdrawn an ice cream product after complaints that a label design looks like the Arabic script for "Allah."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: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Political Humor/Cartoons; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: islamisdeath; yetonceagain
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Just when you thought it couldn't get any more absurd. Pictures are on www.michaelsavage.com
1 posted on 09/21/2005 8:54:33 AM PDT by Seamus Mc Gillicuddy
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To: Seamus Mc Gillicuddy

Well I will stop going to Burger King now that they have proven gutless.


2 posted on 09/21/2005 8:56:41 AM PDT by MNJohnnie ("Don't get stuck on stupid, reporters.")
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To: Seamus Mc Gillicuddy

I love gripe...tastes like chicken.


3 posted on 09/21/2005 8:59:35 AM PDT by RexBeach ("The rest of the world is three drinks behind." -Humphrey Bogart)
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To: Seamus Mc Gillicuddy

Looks more like "Allah" than "Air" to me...

4 posted on 09/21/2005 9:00:39 AM PDT by gridlock (IF YOU'RE NOT CATCHING FLAK, YOU'RE NOT OVER THE TARGET...)
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To: Seamus Mc Gillicuddy
Q: Where does it all stop?

A: With sharia law.

5 posted on 09/21/2005 9:01:15 AM PDT by Mr. Mojo
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To: Seamus Mc Gillicuddy

What do the worm writers see in a fresh, steaming Fido deposit?


6 posted on 09/21/2005 9:02:23 AM PDT by ncountylee (Dead terrorists smell like victory)
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To: Seamus Mc Gillicuddy
Note that the ice cream package has to be turned on its side to give the condemned similarity.


7 posted on 09/21/2005 9:02:57 AM PDT by Dark Skies ("The only way to find yourself is in the fires of sorrow." -- Oswald Chambers)
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To: Mr. Mojo

Why would BK and Nike ever cave in to these bizarros?


8 posted on 09/21/2005 9:03:08 AM PDT by Seamus Mc Gillicuddy (J. E. T. S. JETS, JETS,JETS!!!)
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To: Seamus Mc Gillicuddy

What next? Repoman-style cans of FOOD or DRINK or BEER?


9 posted on 09/21/2005 9:04:03 AM PDT by Kokojmudd (Outsource Federal Judiciary and US Senate to India, NOW!)
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To: Seamus Mc Gillicuddy

If one stands on one's head, at five twenty seven, every other Saturday, and looks at it backwards and sideways, in a mirror, at a ninety degree angle, upside down, on a slant, while wearing blue knickers, singing your favorite show tune, etc.


10 posted on 09/21/2005 9:04:10 AM PDT by synbad600
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To: Seamus Mc Gillicuddy

"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." "


Yeah, and they're also worried about the bumper stickers and t-shirts that say, in the same exact script as the Coca Cola logo...."Come Caca"

You can find these in any hispanic convenience store.


11 posted on 09/21/2005 9:05:01 AM PDT by MineralMan (godless atheist)
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To: Seamus Mc Gillicuddy

What's the difference in this, and the refusal of American women to wear veils? It seems all the Moslem Clerics have to do is issue an "I'm in a bad mood edict" and some lame-brain caves.

Good luck ladies...

Our nation is crumbling.


12 posted on 09/21/2005 9:05:38 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (US socialist liberalism would be dead without the help of politicians who claim to be conservative.)
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To: gridlock

Yikes.


13 posted on 09/21/2005 9:05:39 AM PDT by Dashing Dasher (There are things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few catch your heart. Pursue those!)
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To: Seamus Mc Gillicuddy

Frankly, I think they have a point.

Consider that hundreds of people line up to witness a "miracle" whenever a face shaped blob shows up on a concrete wall in this country...

14 posted on 09/21/2005 9:05:53 AM PDT by gridlock (IF YOU'RE NOT CATCHING FLAK, YOU'RE NOT OVER THE TARGET...)
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To: Seamus Mc Gillicuddy
Burger King reportedly has withdrawn an ice cream product after complaints that a label design looks like the Arabic script for "Allah."

Well, I wouldn't particularly want to buy something inscribed with the name of Satan's most successful persona...

15 posted on 09/21/2005 9:06:53 AM PDT by TXnMA (Iraq & Afghanistan: Bush's "Bug-Zappers"...)
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To: Seamus Mc Gillicuddy
In a related story, after fielding complaints that the pattern of french fries on their containers, when turned sideways and viewed in a mirror, resembled the arabic word for "allah", this chain announced it was changing its name to "Fatahburger".


16 posted on 09/21/2005 9:06:54 AM PDT by Luddite Patent Counsel (Theyre digging through all of your files, stealing back your best ideas.)
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To: MNJohnnie

Being tasteless wasn't enough? :)


17 posted on 09/21/2005 9:09:59 AM PDT by Grig
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To: Seamus Mc Gillicuddy
'bout time for the camel jockeys to pack up and go back to whatever hellhole they originated from...

like the in-laws who came over for the weekend and are still here...
these people have overstayed their welcome...
18 posted on 09/21/2005 9:10:35 AM PDT by kellynla (U.S.M.C. 1st Battalion,5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Div. Viet Nam 69&70 Semper Fi)
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To: Seamus Mc Gillicuddy

I find this odd.....You'd think the Muslims would be HONORED to find this.....and find a way to advance their "cause" because of it....


19 posted on 09/21/2005 9:12:39 AM PDT by goodnesswins (DEMS....40 years and $$$dollars for the War on Poverty, but NOT a minute for the WAR on Terror!)
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To: gridlock
[Frankly, I think they have a point.]

Frankly, I don't care if they have a point or not... If these dumbass muslims are so upset with how something resembles "Allah" in what they think looks like arabic... then what I would like to see is McDonald's write something in English like "F*ck Mohammed, F*ck Allah" on their large drink cups.

I don't give a rat's ass if their offended... They could care less if I were offended by them pissing on a picture of Jesus on the cross.

Hallelujah, Holy Sh*t... where's the Tylenol ?!?!
20 posted on 09/21/2005 9:18:08 AM PDT by Fan_Of_Ingraham
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