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Muslims upset at Dutch fireworks safety ads spoofing Islamic terrorists
Dutch government firework safety ads featuring a spoof Islamist terrorist group have been criticised as insensitive and depicting a negative stereotype of the Muslim community.
The online ads, made for the Dutch government’s consumer safety institute, have been made to look like a video message filmed by an Islamist military organisation called the Liberation Army Against Freedom.
Featuring a group led by an Osama bin Laden lookalike figure at their camp, the viral ads are dubbed into Iraqi-accented Arabic and have versions with subtitles in Dutch and English.
The tone is intended to be humorous, with the terrorist group seen receiving a shipment of fireworks like an arms cache, wearing suicide vests made of firecrackers, and bungling efforts to “demonstrate to you our true power” by blowing themselves up.
However, the light treatment of such a serious issue has angered some industry insiders.
“What is the campaign hoping to achieve by depicting a negative stereotype of the Muslim community in a fireworks advert?” said Saad Saraf, the chief executive of multicultural marketing specialists Media Reach Advertising.
Saraf, an Iraqi, was particularly offended by images in one ad that show one person strap fireworks around him in a style similar to a suicide belt, which later explodes.
“Are the producers aware that the actors in the advert are speaking in an Iraqi accent; with the current state of affairs in Iraq and the loss of lives as a result of suicide bombing, I question, what were the creatives thinking?,” said Saraf.
“This is insensitive to society as a whole. Suicide bombings have destroyed many thousands of lives – using them in a humorous way is totally inappropriate. Are these adverts then for people who have not been affected by terrorism, suicide bombings and the invasion of Iraq in some way?”
Saad described the setting of the adverts as an “al-Qaeda-style camp”, an image reinforced in one of the ads when the group are seen hiding out in a mountain cave.
However, Inayat Bunglawala, the assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, did not think the ads were particularly offensive.
“I thought they were very humorous public safety films,” he responded by email after being sent several links to the ads.
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“Obviously there will always be some who find it to be in bad taste, but I thought it was done light-heartedly and funny and with clear educational value.”
The ads were first seeded on YouTube with Dutch subtitles around two weeks ago. Since then, versions of the ads have appeared with English subtitles.
The campaign, which also uses TV ads – featuring a family who has an accident while letting off fireworks – in the Netherlands, was created by local ad agency Selmore to raise safety awareness in the runup to new year festivities.
“We needed to achieve maximum impact with this campaign, a challenge considering that not only is the message of being responsible poorly received but it is also repeated year after year, and the target have become somewhat desensitised to it – I think we will definitely get through to them this year,” said Poppe van Pelt, a creative partner at Selmore.
• Original title: ‘Terrorist’ firework ads spark row
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