Best Buy Re-Discovers Christmas, Along With Eid-al-Adha

While the media and blogs are picking up on a Best Buy flier mentioning Muslim holiday, Eid-al-Adha, the claim that they are also bringing back Christmas may be getting lost in the news. I believe Best Buy dropped the word "Christmas" from it's marketing some time ago.

Call me old fashion, which is to say I might wish things were as they used to be. But arguing with the new policy assumes a different stance than saying, No Christmas, but muslim holidays are fine? More precisely, Best Buy seems to have bought into the whole inclusive deal. Make of that what you will.

Further, deflating a criticism repeatedly leveled by conservative activists, she said shoppers will see the word “Christmas” in holiday marketing: “Christmas will be included in our insert and online. We have ‘Merry Christmas’ on our gift cards, too. In addition. we have developed the Christmas Morning simulator as an online interactive game.” (That message doesn’t seem to be getting through: Many news outlets, including a Denver Fox affiliate, cover the story with rhetoric like, “‘Merry Christmas’ is off-limits, but ‘Happy Eid al-Adha’ is apparently okay.“)

Comments

[MDr]

Best Buy, like many other Christmas deniers, are "temporarily" changing their tune, based upon the ObaEconomy and poor sales forecasts for this Christmas season. Most retailers capture approx 30% of their annual revenue at this time, and they really can't afford to diss Christians this year. Fear not - once the economy recovers, they'll go back to their old policies.

[JustOneMan]

"Festival of Sacrifice" or "Greater Eid" is a holiday celebrated by Muslims (including the Druze) worldwide to commemorate the willingness of Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ismael as an act of obedience to God.

Hmmmm...is this where they celebrate 911, Ft. Hood or your everyday suicide bomber?

[John]

What percent of Best Buy shoppers are Muslim? Doesn't seem like a good rate of return on investment.

[JohnFLob]

I think I Best Buy somewhere else. Good grammar be damned.

[JeffinSac]

In 2006 Best Buy banned "Christmas" in its advertising, so I will also be interested to see if they bring it back this year.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/christmas/bestbuy.asp

[Paul A'Barge]

Wait. I looked at the flier. I saw no mention of Christmas.

Writhe all they want, but the point stands ..... the flier mentions a Mooslim holiday and does not mention Christmas.

Too bad. I used to like Best Buy. Now I'll be buying somewhere else.

[Calendar-Watcher]

The flyer for Black Friday mentions the Muslim holiday because it falls on Black Friday. When it's Christmas time, they'll be mentioning Christmas. It's a timing thing, not a discriminatory thing.

[wii raquettes]

As a Christian I am NOT offended by the Happy Eid al-Adha in the most current ad. Howevery I will be watching for appropriat holiday wishes for the other major religions for example Jewish holidays and Christmas. Best Buy is my favorite electronics store especially for computer items.