This week the Council on American-Islamic Relations decided to try a little humor with the introduction of a spoof medication called “Islamophobin” that seems sure to get more notice than CAIR’s usual campaigns. Photo courtesy of CAIR

Source: RNS

By David Gibson

(RNS) The nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization has been earnestly educating Americans for years about Islam while denouncing the growing tide of anti-Muslim bigotry.

But it’s always an uphill battle, so this week the Council on American-Islamic Relations decided to try a little humor instead. The result is the introduction of a spoof medication called “Islamophobin” that seems sure to get more notice than CAIR’s usual campaigns.

Billed as “a multi-symptom relief for chronic Islamophobia,” the over-the-counter medication (well, it’s sugar-free chewing gum actually) is available online and its “maximum strength formula” is designed to treat “blind intolerance,” “unthinking bigotry,” “irrational fear of Muslims” and “U.S. presidential election year scapegoating.”

The ad campaign, launched on Wednesday (May 25), even includes a faux TV commercial that’s funnier (no surprise) than most of those over-hyped Super Bowl spots:

Video courtesy of CAIRtv via YouTube

The product is pitched somewhere between a pain reliever and an erectile dysfunction treatment, but the satirical ad campaign — inspired by an effort by the Muslim community in Sweden — definitely has a serious side.

As the slogan says: “Islamophobin is funny. Islamophobia is not.”

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