In Best Buy’s Black Friday ad, they included a Happy Eid al-Adha message to recognize the holiday that Muslims around the world will be celebrating this week. For Muslims, Eid is like Christmas and this year it happens to be in the same week as Black Friday and Thanksgiving. Surprisingly, it looks like this ad has caused disappointment among many Best Buy customers.

A topic on the Best Buy forums is full of 10 pages where customers are complaining about Best Buy wishing Muslims a happy Eid. As I was reading the topic I noticed that many people were saying that they will no longer shop at Best Buy, some were saying that Best Buy should have put something about Christmas, and some said that they were shocked. Due to the complaints by a lot of people, a Best Buy supervisor, Elizabeth had to post the following response:

Thanks for sharing your point of view regarding our recent ad, which included a wish for a “Happy Eid al-Adha”.

Best Buy’s customers and employees around the world represent a variety of faiths and denominations.  We respect that diversity and choose to greet our customers and employees in ways that reflect their traditions.

We do use the word “holiday” in some of our advertising because it is meant to be inclusive to everyone.  However, just as we have in the past, we will also reference specific holidays such as Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa in our weekly ads, store signage and other advertising vehicles.

We encourage our employees to interact with customers naturally and feel free to wish them a Merry Christmas if they are celebrating that holiday. Thanks again for your feedback.

~Elizabeth
Community Supervisor
Best Buy® Corporate

I really don’t see anything wrong with Best Buy adding a “Happy Eid Al-Adha” text in their ad. It just proves that Best Buy appreciates diversity. It is unfortunate that people are taking other meanings from this ad. What are your thoughts on this? I’d like to end this post with: Happy Eid to any of our readers who are celebrating Eid this week, and happy Thanksgiving to any of our readers who are celebrating Thanksgiving this week.

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2. Apple’s 2011 Black Friday Deals
3. Black Friday Sales 2009: Walmart, Target, and Best Buy