The electronic commerce company Amazon thought it would be a great idea to sell Allah-themed and Jesus-themed doormats. But instead of generating tonnes of sales, like what they had hoped, consumers thought the doormats were downright offensive and refused to buy them.
The doormats featured the Arabic spelling of "Allah" and the face of Jesus. They were sold by independent Amazon sellers with the names "Dragon One," "Trendy Mats" and "Gear One" for $17.44 each, according to The Christian Post.
For Muslims, feet and shoes are viewed as unclean. As such, to have Allah's name printed on the doormat is an insult to their god. On Nov. 28, Mariam Khan, a Labour Party councillor from Birmingham, demanded that Amazon remove their "offensive" and "disrespectful" products.
"These mats are extremely offensive to Muslims [and] out of order," Khan wrote on Twitter. "@amazon @AmazonHelp please remove these from your site immediately."
Khan was so upset with the products that he phoned Amazon directly and lodged a verbal complaint. "The conversation initially started off confusing as they kept asking for my Amazon account details (which I don't have as I'm not a customer). But eventually, I explained the situation [and] asked them to check the items themselves [and] the representative I spoke to said they are really sorry about having these items for sale [and for] offending their fellow Muslim brothers [and] sisters [and] will remove the items as they don't want to disrespect any religion," she said.
Khan's complaint proved effective since Amazon subsequently removed the "Allah" doormats.
However, the doormats featuring Jesus are still being sold. One particular doormat featured the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus, and it is being sold for $13.98 plus shipping.
This was not the first time Amazon faced criticism over religious products being sold. Earlier this year, Amazon already removed doormats featuring Hindu gods and goddesses from its website after the hashtag #BoycottAmazon started trending in India.
