This Bud's for You.

Most of you know the slogan I'm talking about because, like me, you are victims of a non-stop barrage of advertising that began just around the time you were able to cognitively process audio and visual information with a minimal degree of comprehension. This is why, if you don't drink and grew up in America, you are very unique if you did not, for a femtosecond, consider what you could've been doing on your 21st birthday. While there may never have been an outright longing in your heart for alcohol, you have at a minimum laughed at a beer commercial. And that's all they need you to do. Laughing creates a positive psychological/emotional experience and its correlation with the advertisement eventually leads to a belief in causation.

This is why a lot of us, for instance, will actually consider Geico ("Omg, like, I love those commercials!") for car insurance if/when we get our own vehicles. We laugh at the ads and end up remembering that we may save upto 15%. Even if we don't remember the 15%, we will likely go for Geico just because of the ads. Ultimately, if those coverage plans are bad, we won't buy them - but the advertising is what made us think of them first. And that's what most of advertising really is: planting/seeding the future customer base.

But the point is not to view this as advertising, but for what it really is: da'wa. There are only two directions that da'wa can proceed: either you are carrying it out or it's being carried out on you. How do you know which one is going on? Well, if you're not doing it actively, then someone else is doing it to you. Like me on you, right now. Yup.

The difference with advertising, though, is that the da'wa is engineered by a team of psychologists and investors. It's for this reason that I am just appalled at the percentage of women that fall for typical advertising and don't see how their physiques are only a centuries-old marketing tool for the unscrupulous. Let's examine this ad, for instance:

If you can't tell already, this is an ad by "bebe," yes, the salacious women posing at bus stop shelter inserts. I have to thank them for this one being less nasty, overall, though. The ones at the bus stops are just wretched, bizarre, and uncalled for. Clearly, they are seeding a consumer base with those ads because typical bus riders are unlikely bebe enthusiasts, to say the least.

Anyways, look at the woman: tan, she's made up, her hair's done, high cheekbones, distinct jawline, she's thin, slightly curvy, arms/shoulders back (to improve chest visibility), hands placed - on purpose - framing the hips; although wearing an affordable-looking and simple outfit, she is clearly evoking a runway with the dark background and lighting scheme - you can almost picture parallel rows of people taking notes and examining her on either side of the catwalk - flashbulbs going off everywhere.

If you're among the majority of men, this ad is another hot woman and you wouldn't mind ending up with someone like that. (It might even lead you to seek women like that.) If you're a woman, there's more nuance to your reaction: some will say she's cute and appreciate certain aspects of the fashion, you have been duped; others will wish they could look like that, you have been bought; and a small percentage will feel bad for what she represents - the continued denigration of women for the sake of economic gain. Nobody at bebe, after all, cares how you feel - they just want you to buy their clothing and to do so they have to create an image that is internalized...even just by driving past a bus shelter.

But that's not all, look at the text: "dress up denim," "steal the spotlight," "sparkle & shimmer." Essentially, this ad is a textual/visual guide to becoming the center of attention and if you don't see that this was the goal of the designers of the ad, then you are stupid or not forcing yourself to think. Even look to the low placement of the text, emphasizing that the angle of the shot is "looking up" to this model, as she, ostensibly, with her chin up and lowered eyelids, looks down her nose at you. These images are clearly designed to project superiority of the one who embodies the image.

(Incidentally, these slogans and imagery are almost exactly opposed to ayat in the Qur'an which warn women not to draw attention to themsleves and not to make a 'dazzling display' like the Days of Ignorance. They also negate the command upon believing men and women to lower their gaze. They also promote judging by appearance, also forbidden - not just in the deen, but in common courtesy.)

Some of you think I'm extreme because there's nothing wrong with her looking cute, for instance - it is clothing, after all, right? You must have humans in order to sell clothing, right? Sure, you do; but who determines the image that's projected?

And that is the trickiest part: somewhere along the way, and I don't know where, the woman begins to think that what is sold to her is actually not that big a deal. She may not feel she has to look like that, but she no longer frames the image in the context of it having been sold to her. And that's really the first step toward internalizing the image as acceptable. If you believe this is foreign and unnatural, you will be on guard - but once you take it as dominant culture and acceptable, you will spiral precipitously down an endless abyss of obsession with the outward. (Read this incoherent diatribe by a Muslim Arab woman in London railing against hijab - especially the fashion references in the final column. She is clearly oblivious to the fact that she hates dressing according to Islam because she wishes to follow popular trends.)

Am I telling women what to wear? No. I don't need to because if they're interested in keeping away from exploitation in all its forms, they can figure it out for themselves. What I am telling women is to recognize how the image they have of themselves has more to do with a violent psychological and emotional campaign that is making da'wa upon the hearts and minds of men and women, than it has to do with anything natural. As soon as you find something that is praiseworthy in a display like the above ad, you have let down your defense to an onslaught.

Even putting aside how a woman processes this da'wa, what about the models, actresses, and celebrities whose lives have become centered around their ability to market their bodies? Don't we feel bad for their exploitation? Why isn't that prostitution? By definition, it is:

I could take this tangentially ad nauseam, but I will suffice it to say that Islamically damaging da'wa is everywhere and unless you (especially women - future teachers of Islam) are aware of it, you will no sooner have it pointed out to you than you will believe it is ineffectual, despite being engulfed in its effects. (Just like some of you reading, thinking this post is a bit too theoretical, and that your personal Islam is independent of such influences.)