Rebranding Islam in America

Alona Elkayam, Daisy Khan, Joel Mowbray, Michael Maslansky, Zeenat Rahman

This panel will bring together leaders of the Muslim American community, PR and brand strategists who can foster the sensitive dialogue between religion/politics and public relations/branding. As the controversy of the The Ground Zero Mosque heightened, the issues of religious freedom and tolerance garnered credible support from both sides of the fence, but there is one thing every will agree on: The terrorists own the share of voice of Islam. Perhaps the majority of Muslims in America condemn these terrorists, but the terrorist voice is getting all the attention—creating fear in the US and beyond. Stopping terrorism in America and the views Americans have of their fellow Muslim Americans cannot be resolved by a better brand campaign, but it surely wouldn't hurt. In this era of accessible information, does Islam need a new brand identity? Can we create a campaign using modern communiques of social media and messaging that clearly divorces Modern Islam in America from the terrorists? This controversy will define us as Americans and as human beings and to open up this dialogue is one of the most important issues of this decade. As a granddaughter of a holocaust survivor, Alona Elkayam, hopes that people will speak up for their fellow Muslim Americans if these Muslims are willing to speak up for themselves.

Islam    #321REBRAND

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